Pfizer welcomes Canadian court's Lipitor ruling

0 Comments | AFP, December, 2006

NEW YORK (AFP) — US drug giant Pfizer said it welcomed a ruling by Canada's Federal Court which prevents Novopharm Ltd. from launching a generic version of its blockbuster anti-cholesterol drug Lipitor until 2010. Pfizer had gone to court in a bid to stop Novopharm marketing a generic version of Lipitor.

The US drug maker said, however, that the court's ruling can be appealed. "This is yet another decision recognizing the protection of the intellectual property supporting Lipitor," Pfizer's general counsel Allen Waxman said in a statement. The Ottawa-based court ruled that Novopharm cannot launch a generic version of Lipitor until the drug's Canadian patent rights expire in July 2010. "Patents like this one provide the incentive to develop new, life-saving medicines that...