AstraZeneca has been left stunned by the news that a major patent on the blockbuster antiulcerant Nexium has been revoked.
The European Patent Office ruled that one of the company's substance patents for Nexium (esomeprazole), which was due to expire in 2014, will be rejected, following an appeal by German generic manufacturer Ratiopharm.
Details of the decision, which cannot be appealed, will be revealed next year, while a process patent hearing will take place on March 7.
AstraZeneca acknowledged that it was disappointed with the decision but claimed that it "has confidence in the intellectual property portfolio protecting Nexium." This includes process, method of use and additional substance patents with expiration dates ranging from 2009 to 2019 and in addition, the drug has data exclusivity valid until 2010 in major European markets.
The importance of Nexium to AstraZeneca's fortunes is considerable, given that the blockbuster brought in revenues of $4.6 billion last year, with just less than a quarter coming from Europe.
Source: PharmaTimes
1 comment:
Regardless of the Nexium specifics, if it boils down to issues with isomers being patentable, this could be a MAJOR problem for big pharma- just think how many current 'blockbusters' are isomers. Also, note to Astra: Whatever you pay your lawyers, it's probably too much. First Toprol now this!
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