Parties settle in major pharma patent suit

Pharmaceutical giants Pfizer and Ranbaxy have reached an agreement over the Lipitor cholesterol drug – subject of a long-running patent dispute between the firms. Under the terms of the deal, Ranbaxy will be licensed to sell a generic version of the drug in the US from late 2011, and in a range of other territories from various dates. Pfizer describes the move as ‘pro-patient, pro-competition and pro-intellectual property’.

Ranbaxy has contested Pfizer over Lipitor’s patent since 2003. The lawsuits between Pfizer and Ranbaxy relating to the drug will be dismissed in the specified countries – including Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and the US – and Ranbaxy will no longer contest the validity of Pfizer’s patents in those countries. The settlement also resolves all patent litigation with Ranbaxy relating to Accupril in the United States and Viagra in Ecuador.

Pfizer’s president of worldwide pharmaceutical operations, Ian Read, said: ‘This agreement is a win-win-win. [It] provides patients with access to a generic product much earlier than if Ranbaxy were unsuccessful in obtaining approval for its product and overcoming the relevant patents. It provides substantial certainty regarding the timing of the entry of a generic version of Lipitor. Finally, the agreement clearly reaffirms the value and importance of intellectual property and this country’s well-balanced system of creating incentives to develop innovative medicines while at the same time establishing a strong generic drug business.

‘Without patents and rigorous defence of intellectual property rights, innovators would face significant challenges that could inhibit the discovery of new medicines.’