Procter & Gamble announced Wednesday that the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld a lower court decision from February 2008 rejecting Teva’s challenge to the validity of a patent for Actonel (risedronate).

The decision protects Procter & Gamble’s right to sell the osteoporosis drug exclusively in the US, where it is marketed in collaboration with sanofi-aventis. Teva indicated that it plans to launch a generic version of Actonel no later than June 2014, when the patent is expected to expire.

Procter & Gamble filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Teva in 2004 after Teva sought to market a generic product based on a claim that the Actonel composition of matter patent was not valid due to the obviousness of the invention.

Source: FirstWord

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