AstraZeneca gets injunction against generic drug

21st May 2009 07:48

A US court has granted AstraZeneca a preliminary injunction preventing Apotex from launching a generic version of Astra's asthma treatment for children, Pulmicort Respules, in the US. Apotex had received approval for a generic version of the drug from the US Food and Drug Administration on 30 March. Astra then filed suit after Apotex indicated its intention to market a generic version of the drug in the US prior to the expiration of Astra's patents. In April, the Canadian firm was temporarily barred from launching its competitor treatment."AstraZeneca has full confidence in the strength of its intellectual property rights protecting Pulmicort Respules and will continue to vigorously defend and enforce its intellectual property," it said today.Patents covering Pulmicort Respules expire in 2018 with pediatric exclusivity extending to 2019.No trial date for the patent litigation has been set.The news comes as Astra stands accused of launching a public relations push to get doctors to prescribe its best-selling psychiatric drug Seroquel for a string of uses that were not approved by safety regulators.