Controversial Canadian patent policy upheld

A Superior Court judge in the Canadian province of Ontario has upheld aprovincial government policy which permits pharmacists in the province to provide a generic version of Pfizer's Zoloft (sertraline) to patients who are depressed but not to those suffering from panic disorder or obsessive-compulsive disorder.

This is because Pfizer has recently acquired two new patents on the product covering the two latter conditions, and these do not expire until 2010, while the company's patent on Zoloft's use in depression has now expired.

Ruling in a case brought by Apotex, the manufacturer of the generic version, against the provincial government's policy, which is described as unprecedented, Judge John O'Driscoll said the Health Ministry had to take this action because of the new patents, and that any other course of action would have been in violation of the federal Food and Drug Act.