Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. said today, a court in Washington approved its request to have the exclusivity of selling a generic version of the drug Risperdal produced by Johnson & Johnson for 180 days.

Risperdal drug is administrated to patients of bipolar mania, schizophrenia and irritability associated with autism in children and it had $2.5 billion of sales in the U.S. in 2007.

Teva expects to start selling the drug in form of tablets after a final approval in June 29 when the patent of the medicine expires. The Israeli based firm is a global pharmaceutical company that develops, produces and markets generic drugs .

The exclusivity was granted in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

In 2001, Teva asked the U.S. government for the first time to approve a generic tablet version of Risperdal claiming the exclusivity for six months since it was the first company to make the request.

The first group to file for approval of a generic is usually the one that receives approval for a period of exclusivity.

Shares of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. were up 1.34 percent to $46.74 in After Hours trading on Friday.