AstraZeneca treatment patent revoked

The patent for AstraZeneca’s (AZ) Symbicort treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease has been revoked after generic manufacturers Norton Healthcare and Generics UK appealed to the European Patent Office.

Symbicort (formoterol and budesonide) is subject to two patents and this one covers treatment in the UK and other countries such as Germany, Finland and Romania.

The original expiry for this patent was 2018; Symbicort’s second patent is also under review.

AZ indicated it intends to defend its brand names and remaining intellectual property rights pertaining to the drug.

This includes patents and applications for processes, Symbicort Smart and the M3 Turbuhaler.

Chief executive David Brennan said: “Symbicort is a strong brand and constitutes an important part of our growth potential for the coming years in Europe, where we have data exclusivity protection until August 2010.”

The company states that worldwide sales of Symbicort totalled $1.58 billion (£80 million) in 2007, $1.34 billion in Europe alone.

Recently Norton was among several healthcare companies found to have been involved in price-fixing of generic drugs in Northern Ireland, the BBC reported.