Patents on Taxotere invalid
On 9 April 2012, two patents for sanofi-aventis’ cancer drug Taxotere (docetaxel) were ruled invalid and unenforceable by a US court, coming as good news for generics manufacturers Apotex and Hospira.
Taxotere (docetaxel) is a chemotherapy drug usually given to treat breast cancer, prostate cancer and non-small cell lung cancer. The drug, which is a follow-on from Taxol (paclitaxel), still generated Euros 922 million during 2011 for sanofi-aventis, despite a 57% reduction since the start of generic drug competition in 2010.
Source: Bloomberg
Abbott’s tactics block generics
Despite generics of Abbott Laboratories’ (Abbott) cholesterol-reducing drug Tricor (fenofibrate) being available for more than a decade, the company’s tactics have left them, for the most part, on the shelf, Krumholz and colleagues reported online in Archives of Internal Medicine.
Abbott has used a combination of patent litigation and minor reformulations to keep generics at bay by preventing substitution by older-generation products. The whole process has allegedly cost the US healthcare system US$700 million.
Source: Arch Int Med
Ranbaxy leads in atorvastatin sales
Ranbaxy is now selling more pills than Pfizer, according to market research firm Wolters Kluwer Pharma Solutions.
Ranbaxy produced 17.5 million generic atorvastatin pills during the last week of March 2012, just beating Pfizer, which dispensed about 17.2 million brand-name pills,The Wall Street Journal reports. Watson Pharmaceuticals, which makes an authorised generic, came in well behind, with sales of 10.8 million tablets.
Source: The Wall Street Journal
Mylan sues FDA over Teva’s generic modafinil exclusivity
Mylan announced on 5 April 2012 that it has filed a lawsuit against FDA in the US District Court for the District of Columbia seeking to overturn a decision by FDA, which awarded Teva sole 180-day exclusivity for the generic version of Cephalon’s narcolepsy treatment, Provigil (modafinil).
The complaint alleges that Teva did not maintain valid paragraph IV certifications as a result of its acquisition of Cephalon.
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Teva grabs biopharmaceutical company Cephalon
Source: Mylan
URL sues Par for infringement of colchichine patents
URL Pharma (URL) filed a lawsuit in the US against Par Pharmaceutical (Par) on 4 April 2012. The lawsuit alleges infringement of 10 patents with respect to Par’s generic version of URL’s gout treatment Colcrys (colchicine).
Source: Bloomberg
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