Oct. 26 (Bloomberg) -- A unit of Sanofi-Aventis SA, France’s biggest drugmaker, accused U.S. rival Hospira Inc. and Canada’s Apotex Inc. of infringing patents for the cancer drug Taxotere as a non-jury trial began today.

Sanofi sued Hospira and Apotex in 2007 and 2008 in separate complaints that were combined for the trial before Chief U.S. District Judge Gregory M. Sleet in Wilmington, Delaware. Sanofi is asking Sleet to rule that the companies infringed the patents by applying for U.S. Food and Drug Administration permission to market versions of the injectable drug.

“They want to copy our product,” George F. Pappas, a lawyer for Sanofi-Aventis U.S. LLC, said in his opening statement.

Sanofi, with $40.5 billion in sales last year, logged 584 million euros ($870 million) in Taxotere sales in the second quarter, the Paris-based company said in a July statement. The two patents, awarded in 1998, expire in 2012.

“Ours is a better formulation,” James F. Hurst, an attorney for Lake Forest, Illinois-based Hospira, told Sleet today. “It’s an improved product.”

Hospira and Toronto-based Apotex contend Sanofi’s patents aren’t valid because the technology isn’t new and the formulations would be obvious to a skilled chemist.

Taxotere -- known chemically as docetaxel -- is used to treat breast, lung, prostate, gastric and head and neck cancers, according to court papers. Sales of the drug have totaled $7.8 billion since it was approved in 1996, Pappas told Sleet.

Sanofi fell 83 cents to 51.20 euros in Paris trading today. Hospira rose 27 cents to $46.24 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading at 1:33 p.m. Apotex is closely held.

The consolidated case is Aventis Pharma SA v. Hospira Inc. and Apotex Inc., 07CV721, U.S. District Court, District of Delaware (Wilmington).

To see the patents, click: 5,714,512 and 5,750,561.

To contact the reporter on this story: Phil Milford in Wilmington, Delaware, at pmilford@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: October 26, 2009 13:42 EDT