Ranbaxy-Pfizer war: US court partly invalidates patent

New Delhi, Aug 3: Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd today said it will advance the launch of its cholesterol-lowering drug, Atorvastatin in the US to March 2010 from June 2011, following the decision of a US court which overturned part of an lower court judgement in its patent war with Pfizer.

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) has handed down a judgment in its case challenging two key 'Atorvastatin' patents held by global drugs major Pfizer.

CAFC has apparantely sided with Ranbaxy by invalidating one of Pfizer's Atorvastatin patents, US patent no 5,273,995 ('995) and overturning Delaware District Court's judgement in this regard, a company statement said.

However, it affirmed the portion of the judgement, which held that the company's product infringes Pfizer's US patent no 4,681,893 ('893).

The launch of Atorvastatin will be subject to the appellate process and market authorisation by the US FDA, with an 180-day exclusivity in the US market.

''We are pleased by the Courts decision on the '995 patent and are evaluating our options with respect to the '893 patent,'' Global Intellectual Property for the company Senior VP Jay R Deshmukh said.

Atorvastatin is marketed by Pfizer as Lipitor, and is the largest selling drug in the world with estimated annual sales of 8.5 billion dollars in the US.

UNI