Pfizer Will Appeal Court Decision Regarding Celebrex Reissue Patent

Health and Healthcare

Published: March 12, 2014 2:51 pm

Last Updated: April 28, 2020 3:35 am

Shares of drug maker Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) were halted Wednesday afternoon at $32.29, down about 0.4% from the opening price. The company announced that its patent infringement case against a number of generic drug companies was invalidated by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

At issue was a reissued patent to Pfizer for its arthritis treatment Celebrex that extends the company’s patent rights until the end of 2015. The drug contributed $2.18 billion in sales to Pfizer in 2013 according to drugs.com.

Pfizer brought a patent infringement case against Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc., Mylan Pharmaceuticals Inc., Watson Laboratories, Inc., Lupin Pharmaceuticals, USA, Inc., Apotex Corp., and Apotex, Inc. for violating the reissued patent that was granted last year. These firms had filed an application for approval to market a generic form of Celebrex in the U.S. beginning May 30, 2014, when Pfizer’s basic patent expires. The reissue patent would not expire until December 2, 2015.

In its announcement of the court’s decision, Pfizer said it “disagrees with the ruling and will pursue all available remedies, including an immediate appeal of the court’s decision.” The trial against the generic drug makers was scheduled to begin on March 19th.

Pfizer’s shares fell less than 1% following the announcement and now trade down 0.7% for the day at $32.19 in a 52-week range of $27.12 to $32.96.

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