Ranbaxy to Appeal U.S. District Court Decision Upholding ....
Ranbaxy laboratories limited
Ranbaxy to Appeal U.S. District Court Decision Upholding Pfizer Atorvastatin Patents
PRINCETON, New Jersey, December 17 /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 Ranbaxy's atorvastatin infringes Pfizer's 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.
Ranbaxy's continued focus on R&D has resulted in several approvals in developed
markets and significant progress in New Drug Discovery Research. The Company's 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.
Web site: www.ranbaxy.com