|
PRINCETON, N.J., Dec. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited
announced today that the U.S. District Court of Delaware ruled against Ranbaxy
in its case for non-infringement and invalidation of two Pfizer patents on
atorvastatin. Atorvastatin is a cholesterol-lowering drug, marketed by Pfizer
as Lipitor(R), and is the largest-selling drug in the world.
Judge Joseph J. Farnan held that Ranbaxys atorvastatin infringes Pfizers
U.S. Patent No. 4,681,893, and at the same time upheld the validity of
another, Pfizer U.S. Patent No. 5,273,995 which Ranbaxy had claimed was
invalid. The ruling followed a hearing in the U.S. District Court of Delaware,
which took place in December 2005. Ranbaxy plans to begin the appeals process
immediately.
Commenting on the decisions, Malvinder M. Singh, President and Executive
Director of Ranbaxy, noted, "We remain undeterred in our resolve on this
issue, and we will press our case in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal
Circuit. We are committed to bringing lower cost, reliable medicines to
healthcare systems, worldwide."
Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited, headquartered in India, is an integrated,
research based, international pharmaceutical company producing a wide range of
quality, affordable generic medicines, trusted by healthcare professionals and
patients across geographies.
Ranbaxys continued focus on R&D has resulted in several approvals in
developed markets and significant progress in New Drug Discovery Research. The
Companys foray into Novel Drug Delivery Systems has led to proprietary
"platform technologies," resulting in a number of products under development.
The Company is serving its customers in over 100 countries and has an
expanding international portfolio of affiliates, joint ventures and alliances,
ground operations in 46 countries and manufacturing operations in 7 countries.
|
|
