Sanofi-Aventis has sued Teva Industries Ltd. over Teva's plans to sell a generic version of the French drugmaker's cancer treatment Eloxatin.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in New Jersey, comes on the heels of a similar suit filed by Sanofi against Sandoz, a unit of Novartis.
Eloxatin had nearly 1.7 billion euros in sales in 2006 for Sanofi, the world's third largest drugmaker.
In an amended complaint, Sanofi alleged that Teva's plan to make and sell a generic version of the drug infringed a patent for which it was an exclusive licensee.
Teva filed a new drug application with the FDA for a generic product, oxaliplatin injection, according to the complaint. Oxaliplatin is the active ingredient in Eloxatin.
Sanofi is seeking an order blocking Teva from making or selling the generic product in the United States.
Teva and Sanofi could not be reached immediately for comment.
Recently
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. announced that the US District Court for the District of New Jersey has granted summary judgment in Teva's favour on the issue of non-infringement with regard to Debiopharm's US Patent No. 5,338,874.
The patent is listed in the Orange Book for Sanofi-Aventis' chemotherapy medication Eloxatin, which had annual sales of approximately $1.3 billion in the United States for the twelve months that ended December 31, 2008, based on IMS sales data. Teva intends to inform the FDA of the court's decision and expects that its 505(b)(2) New Drug Application will receive final approval shortly.
