Pfizer wins Xalatan patent dispute with Par

World drug leader Pfizer says that it has prevailed in a patentinfringement suit in which Par Pharmaceutical was seeking approval to sell a generic version of Pfizer's glaucoma drug Xalatan (latanoprost).

In a July 6 decision, Judge Stanley Chesler of the US District Court for the District of New Jersey held that the patent on formulations and uses of latanoprost (US 5,296,504, expiring in March 2011) held by Pharmacia, which Pfizer now owns, was valid, infringed and enforceable against Par.

Furthermore, the court issued an injunction blocking the approval of Par's drug application until the March 2011 expiration of the '504 patent.