![FDA, FTC and DOJ Enforcement of Medical Device Regulations FDA, FTC and DOJ Enforcement of Medical Device Regulations](https://www.fdanews.com/ext/resources/Book-Covers-2/BFFDEMDR-COVER.png?height=200&t=1685733565&width=200)
Home » PFIZER PREVAILS IN AUSTRIAN PATENT RULING
PFIZER PREVAILS IN AUSTRIAN PATENT RULING
Pfizer announced that the Austrian Patent Office has ruled that a claim in the company's basic patent covering the use of atorvastatin, the active ingredient in the cholesterol drug Lipitor, would be infringed on by Ranbaxy's generic version. Ranbaxy can appeal the ruling, but the patent will remain in effect during the appeals process, according to Pfizer.
The decision will allow Pfizer to take further legal action to prevent Ranbaxy from launching a generic competitor product before the expiration of Pfizer's basic Lipitor patent in 2011. Lipitor is sold in Austria under the brand name Sortis.
"The ruling reinforces the fundamental principle that patent laws exist to support and encourage medical innovators, not undermine them," Pfizer general counsel Allen Waxman said.
In September a three-judge panel held that Pfizer's patent covering the calcium salt of atorvastatin is invalid in the Netherlands. However, Ranbaxy's generic product was ruled to infringe on Pfizer's basic patent. Also last month, a Norwegian court ruled that Ranbaxy's generic Lipitor does not infringe on two of Pfizer's patents, but that another patent remains in effect that will not allow Ranbaxy to launch its version of the drug in Norway until 2009. Additionally, Ranbaxy recently launched generic atorvastatin in Malaysia.
Pfizer said it will continue to vigorously contest
challenges to its Lipitor patents.
KEYWORDS Daily International Pharma Alert
Upcoming Events
-
21Oct