AstraZeneca has won a legal battle to protect its patent on the extended release version of antipsychotic Seroquel, after months of fighting with courts in Europe and the US.
The company announced that the US District Court for the District of New Jersey has found the formulation patent protecting Seroquel XR (quetiapine fumarate) extended release tablets to be valid.
The court ruled that generic pharmaceutical companies including Anchen Pharmaceuticals, Osmotica Pharmaceutical Corporation and Torrent Pharmaceuticals have infringed the formulation patent.
AstraZeneca's formulation patent expires in 2017.
The Anglo-Swedish firm has been battling to reserve its patent rights of the drug, which accounts for 17% of its sales, for some time.
Earlier this month, the US District Court of Columbia and a UK High Court denied AstraZeneca's request for a preliminary injunction, which would have delayed the market entry of generic versions of drug.
In the Netherlands, however, on 7 March, the District Court in The Hague found the formulation patent protecting Seroquel XR to be valid.
Image: Packaging taking place at an AstraZeneca manufacturing facility. Image courtesy of AstraZeneca.
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