US court sides with Astra on SEROQUEL

Drugs giant AstraZeneca has had a bad run of late so news that a US District Court has ruled that the formulation patent protecting its SEROQUEL XR blockbuster drug is valid will be most welcome.

The US District Court for the District of New Jersey also ruled that generic drugs makers Anchen Pharmaceuticals, Osmotica Pharmaceutical, Torrent Pharmaceuticals, Torrent Pharma, Mylan Pharmaceuticals and Mylan have all infringed the SEROQUEL XR formulation patent. The SEROQUEL XR formulation patent expires in 2017.

The court decision. which only affects the US markets, follows a decision made in the UK on 22nd March 2012, which found the formulation patent protecting SEROQUEL XR to be invalid. In the Netherlands, however, on 7th March 2012, the District Court in The Hague found the formulation patent protecting SEROQUEL XR to be valid.

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JH