AstraZeneca Suits Over Crestor Copies Blocked by Judge
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AstraZeneca Plc, maker of the cholesterol pill Crestor, can’t use patents expiring in 2018 and 2022 to block generics planned by companies including Mylan Inc. and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., a U.S. judge ruled.
The two patents cover methods of using the medicine, and there’s no requirement that the generic-drug makers put those uses on their labels, U.S. District Judge Robert Kugler said in an opinion released today. A separate patent protects Crestor from generic competition in the U.S. until 2016, according to an earlier ruling that London-based AstraZeneca won in June.