Sanofi's Lovenox Secure for Now

A federal appeals court has given Sanofi-Aventis (SNY Quote) a temporary reprieve in a patent fight over its best-selling drug, the anticoagulant Lovenox.

The appeals court on Monday reversed a June decision by a federal district court in California that had granted summary judgment to a pair of generic-drug companies who had challenged two Lovenox patents. The appeals court sent the case back to the trial court.

In doing so, however, the appeals court agreed with some of the trial court's findings that favored the arguments of Israel's Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (TEVA Quote) and the privately held Amphastar Pharmaceuticals of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. ...