Sanofi loses Lovenox patent protection

Sanofi-Aventis has lost a court case to prevent drugmakers Teva and Amphastar Pharmaceuticals from producing a generic version on the blockbuster drug Lovenox. Lovenox, an anticoagulant, did a brisk $2.8 billion in sales last year. The drug loses its patent protection despite the fact that Sanofi's patent for Lovenox doesn't expire until 2012. "The trial was to determine whether Sanofi-Aventis engaged in so-called inequitable conduct when it filed the Lovenox patent," thus misleading the U.S. Patent office, explains the Wall Street Journal. In a press release, Sanofi said it was currently evaluating options for further legal recourse and would continue to defend its intellectual property rights. The FDA has yet to approve any generic versions of the drug.

- see Sanofi's press release [1] on the loss
- check out this article [2] from TheStreet
- read this Wall Street Journal summary [3] (sub. req.)

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