UPDATE: Bank of America Reiterates Buy Rating, Raises PT on Eli Lilly and Co. Following Alimta Case Ruling

In a report published Tuesday, Bank of America analyst Colin Bristow reiterated a Buy rating on Eli Lilly and Co. (NYSE: LLY), and raised the price target from $67.00 to $69.00.In the report, Bank of America noted, “LLY announced that the US District Court has ruled in its favor (vs. TEVA), upholding the validity of the Alimta ‘209 patent. The ruling relates to the ‘209 vitamin dosage regimen patent (Alimta is dosed with vitamin B-12 and folic acid, supplements that provide a significant tolerability benefit). We note LLY has successfully defended the Alimta compound (‘932) patent which provides protection until 2017. We had previously modeled Alimta losing exclusivity (LOE) in the US in early '17 when the compound patent expires but, based on the ruling, we now model LOE in 2022, when the vitamin dosage regimen patent expires. This change to our model has increased our DCF-based PO to $69 (from $67). The favorable ruling comes close behind several other positive announcements for LLY in the last few months, including dulaglutide hitting non-inferiority in the AWARD-6 trial (see note) and ramucirumab demonstrating an overall survival benefit in the REVEL lung cancer trial (see note). We reiterate our BUY rating and continue to view LLY as our 2014 top-pick amongst the US Major Pharma names.”Eli Lilly and Co. closed on Monday at $58.86.