Plavix Court Fight Continues

The Great Plavix Patent Battle was scheduled to resume in federal court Monday, with Bristol-Myers Squibb(BMY Quote) and Sanofi-Aventis(SNY Quote) try to show that generic versions of the drug would cause them irreparable harm.

The two drug giants are asking a federal judge to stop the Canadian drugmaker Apotex from selling reduced-price copies of the anticoagulant. They also want the judge to order a recall of all generic Plavix that Apotex has been selling since Aug. 8.

However, it's unclear how quickly the judge, Stanley H. Stein, would act on the companies' request for a preliminary injunction. Oral arguments began Friday, and a complex issue like the Plavix patent dispute doesn't lend itself to a quick decision from the bench. According to Reuters, the judge's clerk said a ruling wouldn't be issued Monday. ...