US Court rules in Pfizer's favor over Norvasc

The Federal District Court in the Eastern District of Virginia has ruled that USA-based Synthon obtained, by inequitable conduct, two US patents alleged to cover a process and an intermediate compound used to make the active ingredient in Pfizer's Norvasc (amlodipine), the world's most-prescribed branded hypertension drug, which earned the global drug giant $1.24 billion in 2005. Pfizer said the court found that Synthon had knowingly failed to disclose to the US Patent Office Pfizer publications and other information it had in its possession that described the process Synthon sought to patent.