The U.S. District Court in San Francisco on Friday cleared theway for sales of Alza Corp.'s Nicoderm transdermal nicotinepatch to begin immediately.

Judge John Vukasin denied a request by Elan Corp. plc andAmerican Cyanamid Corp. for a preliminary injunction toprevent Nicoderm sales. The judge also lifted his gag order anda Nov. 21 restraining order on Nicoderm.

Shares of Palo Alto, Calif.-based Alza (AMEX:AZA) rose $1.50 onFriday to $88.75.

Alza and its marketing partner, Marion Merrell Dow Inc., saidFriday that they plan to immediately ship and begin marketingNicoderm. However, a federal court in New Jersey has set a Dec.23 hearing on a similar preliminary injunction against Alzabrought by Ciba-Geigy Corp., which holds the other Food andDrug Administration-approved patch.

The New Jersey court is also hearing on Dec. 20 a motion byElan to enjoin Ciba-Geigy's sales of the patch.

Elan last month sued Alza and MMD for allegedly infringing U.S.patent No. 4,943,435. According to the judge's order Friday, apatent issued prior to the '435 patent that "discloses nicotineformulations which inherently function in the same manner asthe devices of claims 1 and 11 of the '435 patent and have fluxrates coming within the specific limits set forth in thoseclaims."

Therefore, Vukasin wrote, "plaintiffs having failed to satisfythe burden of showing a probability of success on the merits, apreliminary injunction should not issue."

The San Francisco court set a scheduling conference for earlyFebruary. Trial of the suit won't begin for at least a year, saidJohn Young, attorney for Cooley Godward in San Francisco, whois Alza's outside counsel. -- Karen Bernstein

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