AstraZeneca files lawsuit against Apotex over asthma drug
07 Apr 2009
AstraZeneca has begun legal proceedings against Apotex seeking a declaration of patent infringement regarding its asthma treatment, Pulmicort respules.
The firm has filed a lawsuit in a US district court after Apotex gained approval from the US Food and Drug Administration to market its own version of the medication.
It is also seeking to gain a prohibition order to prevent the generic product from being sold until the patent infringement case has been resolved.
"AstraZeneca has full confidence in the strength of its intellectual property rights protecting Pulmicort respules and will continue to vigorously defend and enforce its intellectual property," the company states.
The court has indicated that it will begin hearing the cases on April 16th 2009.
Meanwhile, Shire has filed a lawsuit over Mylan's application to the FDA for approval of a generic version of kidney disease drug Fosrenol.
Shire alleges that Mylan has infringed the patent covering its product and the agency is not able to authorise the submission for 30 months, or until a court rules on the lawsuit.
