8-K

UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 8-K

CURRENT REPORT
Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934

Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported): April 3, 2009

ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

Delaware	0-21696	22-3106987
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation)	(Commission File Number)	(I.R.S. Employer Identification No.)

26 Landsdowne Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts	02139
(Address of principal executive offices)	(Zip Code)

Registrant's telephone number, including area code: (617) 494-0400


Not Applicable
(Former name or former address, if changed since last report)

Check the appropriate box below if the Form 8-K filing is intended to simultaneously satisfy the filing obligation of the registrant under any of the following provisions (see General Instruction A.2. below):

⃞ Written communications pursuant to Rule 425 under the Securities Act (17 CFR 230.425)

⃞ Soliciting material pursuant to Rule 14a-12 under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14a-12)

⃞ Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 14d-2(b) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14d-2(b))

⃞ Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 13e-4(c) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.13e-4(c))

ITEM 8.01     Other Events.

On April 3, 2009 ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (the “Company”) issued a press release announcing that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed part of the decision of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts in the Company’s and its co-plaintiffs’ lawsuit against Eli Lilly and Company.  The plaintiffs had sued Lilly for infringing their pioneering U.S. patent covering methods of treating human disease by regulating NF-κB cell-signaling activity and had prevailed at trial.  In Lilly’s appeal, the Appeals Court found that the four claims of U.S. Patent No. 6,410,516 (the “516 Patent”) asserted in this lawsuit are not valid due to inadequate written description, but the Appeals Court did not rule on other validity issues raised by Lilly or the findings of infringement.  In addition, the Appeals Court affirmed the District Court’s ruling that the patent’s enforceability is not impaired by inequitable conduct in its prosecution.

A copy of the press release is being filed herewith as Exhibit 99.1 and this information contained therein is incorporated by reference into this Current Report on Form 8-K.

ITEM 9.01     Financial Statements and Exhibits

99.1 Press Release dated April 3, 2009.

SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized.

		ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Date:	April 8, 2009	By:	/s/ Edward M. Fitzgerald
			Edward M. Fitzgerald
			Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer

Exhibit Index

Exhibit Number	Description
99.1	Press Release dated April 3, 2009.

EX-99.1

Exhibit 99.1

ARIAD Announces Court Rulings Regarding NF-κB Patent Lawsuit with Lilly

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 3, 2009--ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARIA) and its co-plaintiffs today announced that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed part of the decision of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts in the plaintiffs’ lawsuit against Eli Lilly and Company. The plaintiffs had sued Lilly for infringing the co-plaintiffs’ pioneering U.S. patent covering methods of treating human disease by regulating NF-κB cell-signaling activity and had prevailed at trial. In Lilly’s appeal, the Appeals Court found that the four claims of U.S. Patent No. 6,410,516 (the “516 Patent”) asserted in this lawsuit are not valid due to inadequate written description, but the Appeals Court did not rule on other validity issues raised by Lilly or the findings of infringement. In addition, the Appeals Court affirmed the District Court’s ruling that the patent’s enforceability is not impaired by inequitable conduct in its prosecution.

“While we are disappointed by the Appeals Court’s ruling, the decision involves only one of the technical requirements for validity and focuses solely on the four asserted claims. We believe that this decision may allow us to pursue further legal action and judicial review of the ruling,” said Harvey J. Berger, M.D., chairman and chief executive officer.

The ‘516 Patent, issued in 2002, is based on the pioneering discoveries made by research groups led by Professors David Baltimore, Phillip Sharp and Tom Maniatis at the Massachusetts General Hospital, The Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research and Harvard University. ARIAD is the exclusive licensee of the technology and patents.

About ARIAD

ARIAD’s vision is to transform the lives of cancer patients with breakthrough medicines. The Company’s mission is to discover, develop and commercialize small-molecule drugs to treat cancer in patients with the greatest and most urgent unmet medical need – aggressive cancers where current therapies are inadequate. ARIAD’s lead product candidate, deforolimus, is an investigational mTOR inhibitor in Phase 3 clinical development in patients with advanced sarcomas and is being developed in collaboration with Merck & Co., Inc. ARIAD’s second product candidate, AP24534, is an investigational multi-targeted kinase inhibitor in Phase 1 clinical development in patients with hematological cancers. ARIAD has an exclusive license to pioneering technology and patents related to certain NF-κB cell-signaling activity, which may be useful in treating certain diseases. For additional information about the Company, please visit http://www.ariad.com.

This press release contains “forward-looking statements.” Forward-looking statements are based on management's expectations and are subject to certain factors, risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results, outcome of events, timing and performance to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, preclinical data and early-stage clinical data that may not be replicated in later-stage clinical studies, the costs associated with our research, development, manufacturing and other activities, the conduct, timing and results of pre-clinical and clinical studies of our product candidates, the adequacy of our capital resources and the availability of additional funding, and other factors detailed in the Company's public filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The information contained in this press release is believed to be current as of the date of original issue. The Company does not intend to update any of the forward-looking statements after the date of this document to conform these statements to actual results or to changes in the Company's expectations, except as required by law.

CONTACT:
ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Maria E. Cantor, 617-621-2208