Bristol-Myers Wins Plavix Ruling
Updated from 9:34 a.m. EDT
Bristol-Myers Squibb's (BMY Quote) shares rose Tuesday after a judge in New York upheld the patent on Plavix, the anticoagulant that serves as its biggest-selling drug. Plavix is licensed in the U.S. to Bristol-Myers by France's Sanofi-Aventis (SNY Quote). The ruling, which protects the Plavix patent until November 2011, is a major win for both companies. Canada's Apotex, a generic-drug maker, was attempting to invalidate the patent, but the court sided with the Plavix sellers. Bristol-Myers climbed $1.55, or 5.1%, to $31.85 in heavy trading. Sanofi-Aventis rose 32 cents to $41.67 on greater-than-average volume. Plavix provided $3.26 billion in sales last year for Bristol-Myers, or 18% of total revenue. In 2005, Plavix accounted for $3.82 billion, or 20% of total revenue. Last year, Plavix contributed $3 billion to Sanofi-Aventis. It's the French company's second-largest drug. Federal Judge Sidney Stein ruled that Apotex "failed to prove by clear and convincing evidence that [the Plavix patent] is invalid or unenforceable." In deciding for Bristol-Myers and Sanofi-Aventis, the judge permanently blocked Apotex from selling a generic version during the life of the patent. He will assess damages at a later date. Apotex said it will appeal. Due to a complex series of events, Apotex sold generic copies of Plavix for three weeks last August before being blocked by a court injunction. The injunction remained in effect, pending the patent-infringement trial for which oral arguments were held in early 2007.- Loading Comments...
- Loading Comments...
Featured Photo Galleries
| Dow Jones | S&P 500 | NASDAQ | 10-Year Note | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10,023.42 | 1,069.30 | 2,112.44 | 35.03 |
Oil *
76.05
|
|
UP
17.46
|
UP
2.67
|
UP
7.12
|
DOWN
0.30
|
10 Yr
3.50%
SPDR Gold
107.43
|
|
+0.17%
|
+0.25%
|
+0.34%
|
-0.85%
|
Data delayed 20 minutes |














