OEB revokes license of Fournier's lead drug

The European patent office (OEB) in Munich, Germany, has revoked theEuropean license of the micronized formulation of Fournier's Lipanthil (fenofibrate), the lipid-lowering agent which accounts for some 40% of the French drugmaker's sales.

The move marks the end of a six-year-long campaign by Claude Laruelle, founder and president of the generics firm CCL Pharma. Mr Laruelle has already obtained marketing approval for a generic version of the drug and can now seek an industry partner to whom he can sell his production and marketing rights. He said the OEB had now conceded - as CCL Pharma had argued - that the micronized version of Lipanthil lacks the qualities of originality to benefit from specific patent protection. The revocation of the license for the micronized version deprives Fournier of protection for the product in Europe, the patent for which was previously not due to expire until 2009.

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