Ranbaxy wins Lipitor battle in Austria

Ranbaxy Laboratories has prevailed in the Atorvastatin case filed by Pfizer in a patents court in Austria.

The appeal was filed by Pfizer for its $12 billion cholesterol lowering drug soon after the Austrian Patent Office had ruled its patent (AT 207896) as invalid in March last year.

The verdict had benefited Ranbaxy, the generic challenger. In the latest development, a five-judge panel of the Supreme Patent and Trademark Board of Austria has unanimously affirmed the earlier ruling invalidating all the three claims covering Atorvastatin calcium, stated a Ranbaxy release.a

"We are pleased with the decision rendered by the Supreme Patent and Trademark Board of Austria. It validates our strategy to successfully commercialise Atorvastatin in Austria, and potentially other healthcare markets in the future," said Malvinder M Singh, chief executive officer & managing director, Ranbaxy.

Atorvastatin calcium, which is sold under the brand name Lipitor by Pfizer Inc, is the largest selling prescription drug.

In a litigation which has become a prototype of turf protection between innovator companies and generic drug makers, Pfizer and Ranbaxy are locked in a patent litigation in a number of countries such as the UK, US, Austria, Norway, Finland etc.

While Ranbaxy has faced disappointments in the US and Finland markets (and has gone in appeal), it has seen mixed results in the UK and Norway.