Roche wins US patent case with Apotex over eye drug

WASHINGTON, July 9 (Reuters) - Roche Palo Alto LLC on Wednesday won a legal battle with Canadian generic drug company Apotex over a patent for an eye inflammation medicine.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld a summary judgment Roche won in U.S. district court for the Northern District of California.

The case dates to 2001, when Roche's predecessor, Syntex, sued Apotex after it filed an application to sell a generic version of the eye medicine Acular.

Acular is used to treat inflammation associated with glaucoma, conjunctivitis and eye surgery.

Roche Palo Alto is a division of Roche Holding AG (ROG.VX). (Reporting by Diane Bartz; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)