Pfizer: Lipitor patent ruling protects medical innovation

Pfizer has claimed that the latest successful defence of its Lipitor payment is a blow for medical innovation.

Ranbaxy Laboratories has been attempting to acquire the rights to produce Lipitor, the world’s best-selling drug, in a number of countries, including the EU.

Although it successfully acquired the Austrian patent rights for the calcium salt of atorvastatin, the active ingredient in Lipitor, the Austrian patent office has ruled that patent for Lipitor itself is still valid until 2000.

This means Pfizer may block attempts from Ranbaxy to produce a generic version of the drug.

Allen Waxman, Pfizer’s general counsel, remarked: “The decision by the Austrian patent office is yet another affirmation of the strength of the intellectual property behind this important medical breakthrough.”

“The ruling reinforces the fundamental principle that patent laws exist to support and encourage medical innovators, not undermine them,” he added.

Ranbaxy appeal claim for the Lipitor patent was also rejected by the UK Court of Appeal in June. It ruled that Lipitor patents were valid until November 2011 in the UK.

Pfizer has said it will “vigorously contest” all patent challenges.