Pfizer to appeal Lipitor patent loss in Norway

World drug behemoth Pfizer claims that the Norwegian court ruling in favor of its generic rival Ranbaxy has "no practical effect on the company's ability to protect Lipitor from the launch of a competitor generic product in Norway."

The Oslo City Court ruled that the Indian generic drug giant did not infringe two Norwegian Pfizer patents covering particular intermediate compounds in the synthesis of the cholesterol-lowering agent, which is the drug industry's first $10.0 billion product, achieving turnover of $12.6 billion in 2005 and accounting for 21% of Pfizer's annual sales.

Pfizer says it will appeal against the decision, while Peter Richardson, the firm's senior vice president, stressed that Lipitor "continues to be protected from generic competition in Norway through February 2009. In other major European markets, Lipitor is protected by basic patents expiring in 2011.