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AstraZeneca to appeal on patent judgement

Date published: 19/01/2006

AstraZeneca has announced it is to appeal the judgement made in a US court over patents. The decision made in a Missouri district court centres on the validity, enforceability and infringement of two of the US patents associated with the hypertension treatment Toprol-XL (metoprolol succinate).

The court ruled in favour of the defendants KV Pharmaceutical, Andrx Corp and Novartis's Eon Labs stating that the compound and composition patents for Toprol-XL were invalid and unenforceable. The company said in a statement: "AstraZeneca disagrees with and is disappointed by these conclusions. The company maintains that both patents are valid and enforceable and will appeal the court's decision."

The patents on Toprol-XL, which generated sales of $1,291 million in the US last year, are due to expire in 2007. Commenting on the case Paul Diggle, an analyst at Nomura Code Securities, told Bloomberg: "By the end of March, AstraZeneca will have negligible Toprol sales in the US.

"It's going to be the kind of blood-bath that we've seen on products like Allegra.' AstraZeneca's anti-ulcerant Nexium and schizophrenia treatment Seroquel are both also being threatened by patent loss, although court cases are not imminent in these instances.

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