Mixed victory for Ranbaxy in patent row with Pfizer

03 August 2006

The court rejected the view that Ranbaxy's product infringed Pfizer's atorvastatin patents — US patent No. 5,273,995 ('995) — and invalidating a Delaware district court's judgement in that regard. However, the CAFC accepted the portion of the district court's judgement, which held that the company's product infringed Pfizer's US patent No. 4,681,893 ('893).

Atorvastatin is a cholesterol-lowering drug, marketed by Pfizer as `Lipitor', and is the largest-selling drug in the world with estimated annual US sales of $48.5 billion.

Subject to the appellate process and market authorisation by the US FDA, Ranbaxy now can advance the launch date of its product by one year to March 2010, with 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." said Jay R Deshmukh, senior vice president, global intellectual property for the company.

The ruling followed a hearing of appeals in the US CAFC, which started in May this year.