Pfizer filed suit in a US court alleging that Dr. Reddy's Laboratories' proposed generic version of Lipitor (atorvastatin) infringes one of the company's patents on the statin, The Economic Times reported Tuesday.
In a legal filing, Pfizer asked a Delaware court to withhold approval of Dr. Reddy’s 80-milligram version of Lipitor until a patent on the drug expires in January 2017.
"We had anticipated that Pfizer would be filing suit," noted a spokesman for Dr. Reddy's, who added that Pfizer had already sued the Indian drugmaker for regulatory filings regarding other dosage forms of Lipitor. That case, which centres on the same patent, is pending in the same court.
According to an industry analyst, if Dr. Reddy's is successful in its patent challenge it will be able to launch a generic version of Lipitor in the US by May 2012.
The launch could lead to significant sales for Dr. Reddy's as only a few companies will launch generic versions of the drug from November this year, the analyst noted. In 2008, Pfizer reached a deal allowing Ranbaxy to launch a generic version of Lipitor starting on November 30.