Ranbaxy to appeal US District Court decision upholding Pfizer Atorvastatin Patents

Mumbai: Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd has announced that it plans to appeal the ruling of the US District Court of Delaware, which had gone against the company in its case for non-infringement and invalidation of two Pfizer patents on atorvastatin in December 2004.

Atorvastatin is a cholesterol-lowering drug, marketed by Pfizer as Lipitor, and is the largest-selling drug in the world.

Judge Joseph J Farnan held that Ranbaxy 's atorvastatin infringes Pfizer's US patent No 4,681,893, and at the same time upheld the validity of another Pfizer patent - US patent No5,273,995 which Ranbaxy had claimed was invalid. The ruling followed a hearing in the US District Court of Delaware, which took place in December 2004. The Company plans to begin the appeals process immediately.

Commenting on the decision, Malvinder Singh, president and executive director of Ranbaxy, said, "We remain undeterred in our resolve on this issue, and we will press our case in the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. We are committed to bringing lower cost, reliable medicines to healthcare systems, world-wide."