AstraZeneca, Teva battle over Crestor patent marches on
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries has sued AstraZeneca, claiming its cholesterol drug Crestor violates Teva's U.S. patent, which was issued last year.
Attorneys for the Petah Tikva, Israel-based Teva said in a complaint filed in Philadelphia’s federal court that AstraZeneca’s Crestor infringes one or more claims of a patent that was reissued to Teva on March 6, 2007.
In response to the previous suit, the London-based AstraZeneca sued Teva in July to stop sales of Crestor copies. AstraZeneca claimed that Teva’s U.S. division wrongly applied to the FDA to market a copy of Crestor before the 2001 patent expires in 2016, according to papers filed in federal court in Wilmington, Del.
“It’s very difficult to determine whether Teva could be successful with this suit,” Chad Landmon, a patent lawyer and partner in Axinn, Veltrop & Harkrider told the FDA News. “One would think that the brand company had a big head start in its development process. At the very least, Teva may attempt to go after the generic companies to limit generic competition on these products.”
Crestor, with $2.8 billion in sales last year, accounted for about 9 percent of AstraZeneca’s revenue.
Attorneys for the Petah Tikva, Israel-based Teva said in a complaint filed in Philadelphia’s federal court that AstraZeneca’s Crestor infringes one or more claims of a patent that was reissued to Teva on March 6, 2007.
In response to the previous suit, the London-based AstraZeneca sued Teva in July to stop sales of Crestor copies. AstraZeneca claimed that Teva’s U.S. division wrongly applied to the FDA to market a copy of Crestor before the 2001 patent expires in 2016, according to papers filed in federal court in Wilmington, Del.
“It’s very difficult to determine whether Teva could be successful with this suit,” Chad Landmon, a patent lawyer and partner in Axinn, Veltrop & Harkrider told the FDA News. “One would think that the brand company had a big head start in its development process. At the very least, Teva may attempt to go after the generic companies to limit generic competition on these products.”
Crestor, with $2.8 billion in sales last year, accounted for about 9 percent of AstraZeneca’s revenue.