Hospira reaches legal settlement with Sanofi-Aventis over oxaliplatin injection patent litigation

Hospira, Inc. (NYSE: HSP), the world leader in generic injectable pharmaceuticals, today announced it has reached a legal settlement with Sanofi-Aventis to resolve patent litigation concerning Hospira's U.S. sales of its oxaliplatin injection, a generic version of Sanofi-Aventis' oncolytic agent, Eloxatin®. Under the settlement terms, Hospira will stop selling oxaliplatin injection in the United States by June 30, 2010, and can relaunch the product in the United States on Aug. 9, 2012. The settlement will not affect Hospira's financial guidance for 2010.

Hospira launched oxaliplatin injection in August 2009 following a favorable ruling in the patent litigation with Sanofi-Aventis. That decision was later vacated by the appellate court. By settling the litigation, Hospira will secure the right to relaunch its oxaliplatin products more than a year in advance of the expiration of the patent at issue. 

Oxaliplatin injection, used in combination with infusional 5-fluorouracil/leucovorin, is indicated for adjuvant treatment of Stage III colon cancer in patients who have undergone complete resection of the primary tumor, and in the treatment of advanced colorectal cancer.

Hospira's specialty injectable pharmaceuticals (SIP) offering includes approximately 200 generic injectable drugs in many dosages and formulations. In addition, many of its products are available in popular differentiated formats, several of which are proprietary, such as its ADD-Vantage® drug delivery system and iSecure® prefilled syringes. Therapeutic segments include analgesia, anesthesia, anti-infectives, cardiovascular, oncology, emergency and other areas. Hospira also has robust pipelines of both generic and biogeneric drugs.