The U.S. Supreme Court refused to revive a bid by Vanderbilt University to have three of its scientists named as co-inventors on patents covering Eli Lilly and Co.'s Cialis impotence drug.

The justices on Monday left intact a ruling throwing out a lawsuit pressed by the Nashville, Tenn., university against Lilly’s Icos subsidiary. A federal appeals court, upholding a trial judge, concluded that the scientists didn’t play a role in creating the drug. Vanderbilt then asked the nation’s highest court to intervene.

Cialis in 2010 had third-quarter sales of $153.5 million in the United States and $406.5 million worldwide. Indianapolis-based Lilly acquired Icos and gained full control over Cialis in 2007.