A Canadian Federal Court has rejected Apotex's challenge to Sanofi-Aventis' Plavix patent. Even if the fight is not finished, Sanofi-Aventis may feel reassured. In fact the result of this battle will be crucial for the French group.
Plavix is one of the most important medicines, which belong to Sanofi-Aventis. It enables them to earn a lot of money. We call it a “blockbuster”. All pharmaceutical companies need some blockbusters to finance their huge investments in research and investments. Plavix is the highest-selling antiplatelet agent and its main competitor is aspirin.
Apotex, a pharmaceutical company which produces more than 260 generic pharmaceuticals in approximately 4000 dosages, has challenged Sanofi over a Plavix patent, which expires in 2011. In fact Apotex claim that the 2011 patent is invalid because the molecular structure of Plavix is already described in another patent expiring in 2003.
This case has not finished yet, as it is still ongoing in US. Nevertheless the result in Canada is a great victory for Sanofi-Aventis, who was afraid to be obliged to share its blockbuster revenues…
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