Reversals for Ranbaxy

India's largest drug maker Ranbaxy was at the receiving end of two patent infringement cases in Denmark and the USA on February 23. In the first case, a Danish court temporarily crushed the company's hopes to sell the generic version of cholesterol lowering drug atorvastatin.

The second one saw Japan's third-largest drug maker Astellas win a suit at a US District Court against Ranbaxy's attempt to invalidate a patent on its prostrate drug Flomax.

In Denmark, the Bailiff's Court of the Copenhagen City issued a preliminary injection against the sale of the generic version of US drug major Pfizer's patented drug Lipitor (atorvastatin) to Nomeco A/S, a wholesale distributor of Ranbaxy's atorvastatin.

The court directive, based on a patent infringement case filed by Pfizer Inc, would see Ranbaxy's generic atorvastatin, launched on February 12, being withdrawn from the Danish market.

"The injunction, issued by and subject to possible appeal by Nomeco, requires Ranbaxy's generic atorvastatin product to be withdrawn from the Danish market pending the outcome of a patent infringement trial that has not yet been scheduled" a Pfizer statement said.

In the US, Ranbaxy lost a suit against Japan's third-largest drug maker Astellas at the US District Court of New Jersey on the generic version of prostrate drug Flomax. Ranbaxy's attempt was to invalidate Astellas patent on Flomax and introduce a generic version before its patent expiry in October 2009.

While the company had no comments on the adverse court directive against its distributor in Denmark, it has decided to appeal against the US verdict, a Ranbaxy spokesperson said.

Eventhough Denmark is a small market worth about $30 million, Ranbaxy had stated that its considers the introduction of atorvastatin in that country as a significant milestone in its "atorvastatin strategy" and heralds the beginning of the company's determined efforts to bring affordable atorvastatin to patients in Europe and other parts of the world.