Novartis wins UK Entresto patent case

On August 13, 2026, London's United Kingdom — High Court of Justiciary ruled in favor of Swiss drugmaker Novartis in a patent dispute over its blockbuster heart drug Sacubitril/valsartan. Judge Richard Meade rejected a challenge by Intas Pharmaceuticals, a unit of Intas Pharmaceuticals, which had sought to invalidate Novartis' patent and planned to launch a generic version of Sacubitril/valsartan later in 2026. The court upheld the validity of Novartis' patent and its supplementary protection certificate, and found that Accord's intended product would infringe Novartis' intellectual property. The ruling is a boost for Novartis as it faces a period of patent expiries, with Sacubitril/valsartan accounting for about 10% of its sales. The decision follows a similar ruling in the Netherlands, but contrasts with a loss in the United States last year where Novartis failed to block a generic version of Sacubitril/valsartan.