| GSK had brought the matter before the US district court for the district of New Jersey in October 2000. |
| The court granted GSK a preliminary injunction that initially kept Ranbaxy from marketing its antibiotic. |
| However, in 2001, Ranbaxy prevailed on its appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Ranbaxy commercially launched its product after that court vacated the preliminary injunction. |
| Since then, Ranbaxy has sold the drug in excess of $100 million in the US. However, cefuroxime axetil prices fell sharply in mid-2003 once more generic companies launched their version of the drug. |
| "Now, after a full trial, the district court determined that Ranbaxy's product does not infringe GSK's patent rights and Ranbaxy is not required to pay any damages to GSK," a Ranbaxy release said. |
| Ranbaxy vice-president (intellectual property) Jay R Deshmukh said: "This is a major victory for the company and we are thrilled with the outcome. Ranbaxy's ability to market this product is the result of a dedicated team effort within Ranbaxy. It is also the result of our close collaboration with our attorneys at Knobbe, Martens, Olson & Bear, LLP, including Darrell L Olson and William R Zimmerman, among others, who vigorously defended Ranbaxy's interests in this matter." |
| GSK and Ranbaxy have locked horn over other drugs as well. Some time back, GSK had alleged that generic companies including Ranbaxy had developed a clone of its best-selling product augmentin using a bacteria strain stolen from its laboratories. |
| Ranbaxy had contested this by saying that it had procured the strain (clavulanic acid) from Gist Brocades of The Netherlands and the dealings were totally above board. |
| In spite of the legal battles, GSK and Ranbaxy have also entered into a research & development tie up. |
| This is GSK's first such tie up in the developing world and only the second in Asia "" it has a similar collaboration with Shiniogi in Japan. |
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