In another update to the preliminary injunction issued August 29 in the Plavix case, the cheeky Apotex has filed an appeal with the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit against the preliminary injunction preventing the drug company from selling a generic version of the heart drug Plavix. The request came a day after a federal judge had denied Apotex’s request to postpone his order last week to halt the company’s sales of generic Plavix.
The district court judge had said Sanofi had demonstrated that questions Apotex raised as to the validity and enforceability of its patent were without substantial merit and he also concluded Sanofi would suffer irreparable harm if Apotex were permitted to continue selling the generic while any detriment to Apotex was a result of the company’s own calculated risk-taking. A trial is set for January on the infringement suit.
In its appeal, Apotex claims the court failed to properly consider Apotex’s “massive irreparable harm, including the loss of its enormously valuable exclusivity and the great harm to third parties.” … “The injunction will wreak havoc in the pharmaceutical markets where statutes and insurers require that prescriptions be filled with generic product.”
There will be plenty more to come in this high stakes game. We’ll keep you posted.
