Supreme Court backs generic drugmaker in patent case

Driving the news: Justices reversed a lower court decision and ruled that Amarin Pharma failed to state a claim for active patent infringement against Hikma Pharmaceuticals, which was promoting a generic version of a heart drug derived from fish oil.

• Amarin, which makes the brand-name version of the drug called Vascepa, argued that a generic labeled only for non-patented uses can still infringe on patents if the manufacturer induces doctors to prescribe it.
• "Hikma was just complying with the law or with standard industry practice," Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote.

Between the lines: Legal experts said the decision could limit patent infringement cases from getting off the ground.

• The case underscored gray areas in the Hatch-Waxman Act, which allows drugmakers to get approval to sell a generic for certain uses — called a "skinny label" — before all of the brand-name drug's patents expire.
• Amarin argued that Hikma went further than the skinny label allows, by promoting the copycat product through press releases and marketing materials for a still-protected use.