Apotex, Bristol-Myers, Sanofi cardiovascular news
Bristol-Myers and Sanofi said Apotex paid $442.2 million to satisfy the damages from a 2002 patent infringement suit brought by the partners against Apotex regarding cardiovascular drug Plavix clopidogrel. Bristol-Myers and Sanofi also were awarded $1.3 million in post-judgment interest and $900,000 in costs. The pharmas said the payment is the final phase of the patent litigation, in which Bristol-Myers and Sanofi alleged Apotex's generic version of Plavix infringed on Sanofi's U.S. Patent No. 4,847,265.
In 2007, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled that Sanofi's '265 patent was valid and enforceable, a ruling that was subsequently upheld in 2008 and 2010 by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, respectively. The patent, which covered the active ingredient in Plavix, expired last November (see BioCentury, Nov. 8, 2010 & Nov. 14, 2011). ...