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February 02, 2005

Merck Defeated in Federal Circuit

According to the Report on Law.com, Federal Court Invalidates Patent on Merck's No. 2 Drug:

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C., invalidated the patent for the once-a-week version of Merck's Fosamax, which dominates the market for osteoporosis drugs. Under the ruling, generic competition could begin as soon as early 2008, instead of 2018.

Merck shares were down considerably after the ruling.

"It's a big deal," said Barbara Ryan, a managing director at Deutsche Bank Securities. "Merck obviously has a lot of issues facing it, including the withdrawal of Vioxx from the market and the loss of the Zocor patents in the middle of 2006."

For more on patent issues and prescription drugs, you can see an article by me in OKJOLT, "Are Patents Really Limited to 20 Years? - A Closer Look at Pharmaceuticals" (html) (word) (pdf). The article was published about a year and a half ago, so it's a little dated, but it's interesting nonetheless (in my humble opinion).

Posted by Douglas Sorocco at 09:10 AM.
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