Sanofi Sues FDA to Block Approval of Generic Drug

Sanofi-Aventis SA, France’s leading drugmaker, sued the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to make it withdraw clearance of a lower-cost rival to the company’s Lovenox blood thinner.

Sanofi’s lawsuit, filed yesterday in a federal court in Washington, asks a judge to force the FDA to suspend its approval of the generic produced by Novartis AG’s Sandoz unit with Momenta Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s technology. Lovenox, an injection that helps prevent blood clots, was Sanofi’s No. 2 product last year, after the diabetes medicine Lantus.