UPDATE 1-Cephalon wins pain-drug patent ruling vs Watson

NEW YORK, March 24 A U.S. Court upheld a Cephalon Inc CEPH.O patent protecting its Fentora pain medicine in a dispute with generic drugmaker Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc WPI.N, Cephalon said on Thursday.

The U.S. District Court in Delaware found that Watson's proposed generic version of Fentora infringes the patent, Cephalon said. Fentora, which won U.S. approval in 2006, had about $180 million in sales last year.

(Reporting by Lewis Krauskopf; Editing by Bernard Orr)