Pfizer prevails in challenge to basic Lipitor patent in British High Court.

(From Chemical Business NewsBase - Press Release)

Pfizer Inc said the UK's High Court of Justice has upheld the exclusivity of the main patent covering atorvastatin, the active ingredient in Lipitor, until Nov 2011. The ruling is the result of a lawsuit brought by the generic manufacturer Ranbaxy Ltd, which challenged two patents protecting Lipitor. The court ruled that a Ranbaxy generic would infringe on Pfizer's basic Lipitor patent (EP 247,633). If upheld on appeal, this will prohibit Ranbaxy from introducing a generic version of atorvastatin in the UK before the expiration of that patent in Nov 2011. The court ruled that a second patent covering the calcium salt …