Generic Plavix version blocked by U.S. District Court

Daily Record, The (Baltimore), Jun 21, 2007

A Canadian company's cheap generic version of the blood thinner Plavix has been blocked from the U.S. market until at least 2011. U.S. District Judge Sidney H. Stein said Tuesday that Apotex Inc. had failed to prove during a three-week trial in New York City earlier this year that the patent protecting Plavix from competitors was invalid.

Plavix, used by 48 million Americans, is Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.'s best selling product. It is the world's second-best- selling drug after Pfizer Inc.'s cholesterol-lowering agent Lipitor. The ruling also was a victory for the French patent-holder, Sanofi- Aventis, which sells Plavix in the United States through Bristol- Myers.