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Sun Pharma's appeal to reverse earlier verdict denied
By siliconindia
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Tuesday, 20 July 2010, 22:55 IST
Mumbai: The U.S. District Court for New Jersey had denied the appeal of Sun Pharmaceutical Industries to reverse an earlier jury verdict in the patent litigation over the generic version of Wyeth's heartburn medicine, Protonix.
If the final verdict goes against Sun Pharma, the company may have to pay damages for launching the drug 'at risk'. According to Ranjit Kapadia, Vice-President, institutional research, with HDFC Securities, the damage may be around $80-$100 million, two-three times of its earnings.
As claimed by Sun Pharma, the court had not prohibited it from selling the product prior to January 20, 2011, the first day after the end of pediatric exclusivity.
Sun Pharma and Israel-based Teva Pharmaceutical Industries were the first to challenge the validity of the drug's patent. Protonix, Wyeth's third best-selling drug, had sales of $2.5 billion for the 12 months ended June 30, 2007.
Sun Pharma had commercially launched the product on January 30, 2008, a month after Teva launched it.