Ranbaxy wins two additional Atorvastatin patents in Norway

Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited has announced that a Norwegian court handed down a favorable decision for Ranbaxy in its case against Pfizer, involving two patents on atorvastatin in Norway.

Atorvastatin is a cholesterol-lowering drug which is marketed by Pfizer as Lipitor.

The Oslo City Court sided with Ranbaxy by finding non-infringement of two of Pfizer's Norwegian patents (No. 177,566 and No. 180,199) covering particular intermediate compounds. Earlier, in November 2005, the Norwegian Court had found Ranbaxy's atorvastatin product not to infringe one of Pfizer's process patents (No. 309,322) but to infringe another of Pfizer's patents (No. 177,706) covering a particular intermediate compound.

Ranbaxy has already appealed to the Norwegian Court of Appeals against the negative judgment on the one remaining intermediate compound patent.

"This is a most important decision for Ranbaxy, as it significantly validates our position regarding the atorvastatin patents," said Jay Deshmukh, Senior Vice President, Global Intellectual Property for RLL. "We will continue to actively pursue all of our options in Norway and other markets in order to bring affordable atorvastatin to patients around the world."

Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited, headquartered in India, is an integrated, research based, international pharmaceutical company producing a wide range of quality, affordable generic medicines, trusted by healthcare professionals and patients across geographies. Ranbaxy's continued focus on R&D has resulted in several approvals in developed markets and significant progress in New Drug Discovery Research. The Company's foray into Novel Drug Delivery Systems has led to proprietary "platform technologies", resulting in a number of products under development. The Company is serving its customers in over 125 countries and has an expanding international portfolio of affiliates, joint ventures and alliances, ground operations in 49 countries and manufacturing operations in 8 countries.

http://www.ranbaxy.com/