Pfizer and Ranbaxy Settle Lipitor Patent Litigation Worldwide

Holding:

U.S. drug maker Pfizer, Inc. and generics manufacturer Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd. of India and certain of its affiliates agreed to settle substantially all their patent litigation worldwide involving Lipitor, the world’s most-prescribed cholesterol-lowering medicine. Under the terms of the agreement, Ranbaxy will have a license to sell generic versions of Lipitor and Caduet in the United States effective November 30, 2011. Caduet is a medicine that combines the active ingredients of Lipitor and Norvasc and treats both high blood pressure and high cholesterol. The lawsuits between Pfizer and Ranbaxy regarding Lipitor and Caduet will be dismissed in specified countries, and Ranbaxy will no longer contest the validity of Pfizer’s patents in these countries, including the United States, according to the agreement. The settlement also resolved all patent litigation with Ranbaxy relating to Accupril in the United States and Viagra in Ecuador.

Detailed Summary:

The Lipitor patents involved in the settlement agreement are the basic compound patent, which expires in the United States in 2010; the enantiomer patent, which expires in the United States in 2011; as well as various process and crystalline form patents, which expire in 2016 and 2017; and the combination patent for Caduet, which expires in 2018. Founded in 1849, Pfizer is the world’s largest research-based pharmaceutical company.

The settlement provides shareholders of Pfizer and Ranbaxy, as well as patients, with substantial certainty regarding the potential date – November 30, 2011 – for entry of a generic version of Lipitor in…

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