Prilosec US litigation

PRILOSEC US LITIGATION AstraZeneca today announced that it had received confirmation that its pending litigation to defend its patent associated with Prilosec in the US will go to trial in a case to be heard by Judge Jones commencing in New York on December 5th 2001. The trial will consolidate the cases against Andrx, Kudco and Genpharm. The fourth defendant, Reddy Cheminor has requested that its case also be heard in New York but it has not yet been transferred. The trial, which will not involve a jury, will include consideration of the validity of four AstraZeneca patents relating to the formulation and use of Prilosec and will determine whether the defendants in the case infringe those patents deemed to be valid by Judge Jones. An additional patent will be considered in the case against Andrx only. AstraZeneca remains confident of the strength and validity of the intellectual property position, which forms the basis of its case against the defendants. Contact persons: Media: Staffan Ternby, 08-553 261 07 Steve Brown, +44 20 7304 5033 Investor relations: Staffan Ternby, 08-553 261 07 Mina Blair-Robinson, +44 20 7304 5084 ------------------------------------------------------------ This information was brought to you by Waymaker http://www.waymaker.net The following files are available for download: http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2001/10/23/20011023BIT00820/bit0001.doc http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2001/10/23/20011023BIT00820/bit0002.pdf