AstraZeneca to appeal decision by German patent court
ASTRAZENECA TO APPEAL DECISION BY GERMAN PATENT COURT AstraZeneca today announced that the company will appeal a ruling handed down by the German Federal Patent Court. The Patent Court nullified the formulation patent for omeprazole in Germany. The patent covering the formulation, expiring in 2007, has been subject to nullity actions by the generic manufacturing companies Azupharma GmbH & Co and ratiopharm GmbH. ® Omeprazole is the active ingredient in Losec . "We will continue to strongly assert all patent rights pertaining to omeprazole. Patent legislation varies from country to country. The research and development work behind the product is very extensive and concerns - in addition to the formulation - substance, manufacturing methods and intermediates. As a result of this advanced work, Losec is protected by a number of different patents," said Dr. Martin Nicklasson, Executive Vice President GI Franchise. In 1999, Losec had sales of $150 million in Germany, representing 2.5 per cent of total sales of the product. In Germany, omeprazole is marketed ® under the brand name Antra MUPS (MUPS - Multiple Unit Pellet System). AstraZeneca has filed requests in Germany for preliminary injunctions against ten companies, has filed ten main actions and is currently defending its patent rights in eight other patent cases related to omeprazole. In August 1999, AstraZeneca was granted an interlocutory injunction to prevent ratiopharm GmbH and Merckle GmbH selling a generic version of omeprazole, which is still in force. In February 2000, the German Supreme Court referred a number of questions about AstraZeneca's SPC for omeprazole in Germany to the European Court of Justice. Earlier this month the German Federal Patent Court dismissed a nullity action by Merck dura GmbH against the substance patent of omeprazole Further enquires to: Staffan Ternby, +46 8 553 261 07 Mikael Widell, +44 171 304 5030/ +44 7715 011140 ------------------------------------------------------------ Please visit http://www.bit.se for further information The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2000/03/21/20000321BIT00980/bit0001.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2000/03/21/20000321BIT00980/bit0002.pdf