For Viagra Maker Pfizer, What Goes Up Doesn't Come Down (Until 2019)

Posted by Mark J. Miller on August 15, 2011 05:00 PM

The excitement levels of Pfizer execs likely went way up (and remained there for some time) after a federal judge upheld a U.S. patent for the company’s anti-impotence pill, Viagra, on Friday.

The company, the world’s largest drug maker, gets to remain the exclusive manufacturer of the drug into 2019, reports the Wall Street Journal. U.S. Judge Rebecca Beach Smith in Federal court in Norfolk, Virginia (Virginia is for lovers, you know) ruled that Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. could not produce a generic version of the drug, the Journal reports.

Back at an earlier trial in June, Teva argued that the “patent was invalid and unenforceable,” the Journal reports.

"We are pleased that the court recognized the validity and enforceability of our Viagra patent for the treatment of erectile dysfunction," Pfizer's general counsel, Amy Schulman, said in a press release.

"Protecting the intellectual property rights of our innovative core is critical, and Friday's court decision acknowledges Teva's clear violation of our patent rights."

The Journal notes that the drug for Viagra, sildenafil, was originally created “to treat heart-related conditions such as high blood pressure.”

More about: Pfizer, Viagra, Teva Pharmaceutical, Generic, Pharma

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August 16, 2011 03:02 AM #