KRKA, d. d., Novo mesto

Received lawsuit for alleged patent infringement of olanzapine manufacturing process in Slovenia

On 10 March 2008, Krka, d. d., Novo mesto (hereafter Krka) received a lawsuit filed by Eli Lilly Company Limited, Hampshire, Great Britain at the District Court in Ljubljana. Eli Lilly claims that Krka by manufacturing and selling the product ZOLRIX, which contains active ingredient olanzapine, allegedly infringe its patent being valid in Slovenia which protects the process for manufacturing of a pharmaceutical form i.e. the formulation of the medicine. The essential characteristic of the patented process is mixing of olanzapine with other auxiliary ingredients. Krka has strong arguments for proving the fact that it does not infringe the relevant patent and anticipates that the court will reject the lawsuit.

Filing of the lawsuit is a consequence of the temporary injunction issued by the District Court in Ljubljana which temporarily prohibits KRKA to manufacture and sell product ZOLRIX in Slovenia. Should Eli Lilly have failed to file a lawsuit within 30 days after receipt of the court order granting the temporary injunction, the order would cease to be valid. Krka has published the information about temporary injunction order on 4 February 2008.

Krka manufactures Zolrix in its subsidiary Krka-Polska, Sp.zo.o. in Warsaw. In 2007 the sales of ZOLRIX in Slovenia were less than 100,000 EUR. The planned sales of the same product in Slovenia for 2008 are somewhat higher compared to the sales in the previous year.

Date: 12. 3. 2008