Canada's generic drug firms greet court ruling

The Canadian Generic Pharmaceutical Association has welcomed the verdict in the country's Supreme Court, in a dispute over the application of supplementary patents for drugs. The court explicitly rejected the practice known as "evergreening," where a firm proposes to add "bells and whistles to a pioneering product even after the original patent for that pioneering product has expired."

The dispute between Anglo-Swedish drug major AstraZeneca and Apotex, Canada's largest drugmaker, concerned Losec 20 (omeprazole), an antiulcer agent, the patent for which was orginally due to expire in 1999.

Jim Keon, the CGPA's president, in giving his reaction to the ruling, claimed that "the federal government's recent changes to drug patent rules amount to little more than a multi-million dollar gift to brand-name companies at the expense of the taxpayer, provincial governments and consumers." The new regulations were issued last month by the Conservative government, which won a close federal election in January, despite fears raised by the then governing Liberals that the new administration would promote the interests of branded drug companies.