BioCentury
ARTICLE | Company News

Pfizer, Ranbaxy cardiovascular, metabolic, genitourinary news

June 23, 2008 7:00 AM UTC

The companies settled most of their worldwide patent litigation for Pfizer’s cholesterol drug Lipitor atorvastatin and its hypertension and hypercholesterolemia drug Caduet amlodipine/atorvastatin. Pfizer will grant Ranbaxy rights to market generic atorvastatin in the U.S. beginning Nov. 30, 2011. Ranbaxy will also receive rights to market generic atorvastatin on varying dates for Canada, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Italy and Australia. The companies also resolved their disputes regarding atorvastatin in Malaysia, Brunei, Peru and Vietnam. Patent litigation involving Lipitor will continue in Finland, Spain, Portugal, Denmark and Romania. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) notified Pfizer in May that it would confirm the patentability of Pfizer’s U.S. Patent No. 4,681,893, the basic compound patent for Lipitor. The PTO rejected Pfizer’s application to reissue the U.S. Patent No. 5,273,995, which covers the calcium salt of Lipitor, last August (see BioCentury, Aug. 27, 2007 & May 5). In 2007, Pfizer reported worldwide sales of $12.7 billion for Lipitor and $568 million for Caduet. ...