US Appeals Court Upholds Ruling Against Sanofi Lovenox Patents
Wednesday May 14th, 2008 / 17h28
By Peter Loftus Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES A U.S. appeals court has upheld last year's lower court ruling striking down patents for Sanofi-Aventis's (SNY) anti-clotting drug Lovenox, which could clear the way for generic competition. In February 2007, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California ruled that U.S. patents for Lovenox were unenforceable because Sanofi-Aventis had engaged in "inequitable conduct" when it initially sought issuance of the patents from the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. The court found the company intended to deceive the patent office by failing to disclose certain information. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (TEVA) and Amphastar Pharmaceuticals Inc. had challenged the patents when they applied for U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval to market generic Lovenox in 2003. A key patent for Lovenox is set to expire in 2012. Sanofi appealed last year's court ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Two of three appellate judges who reviewed the appeal affirmed the lower court ruling Wednesday, while one judge dissented. Spokespeople for the companies involved couldn't immediately be reached. Lovenox is approved for use in surgery patients and other settings to prevent deep-vein thrombosis, which can lead to pulmonary embolism. The drug had sales of EUR2.6 billion in 2007, up 7.3% from 2006. -By Peter Loftus, Dow Jones Newswires; 215-656-8289; peter.loftus@dowjones.com
Sanofi-Aventis est le 1er groupe pharmaceutique europ éen. Le CA par famille de produits se répartit comme suit :
- produits pharmaceutiques (89,6%)...
