Pfizer Inc announced today (in a press release Here) that the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) has granted reissue patent USRE40667 (Link), relating to Atorvastatin hemicalcium (Lipitor).
The company had applied for the reissue patent in January 2007, in order to correct a technical defect in the US5273995 enantiomer patent for atorvastatin calcium, the salt form of atorvastatin sold as Lipitor. On January 6, 2009, the company announced that the USPTO had issued a “Notice of Allowance” accepting the company’s application to correct the technical defect in the ‘995 patent as reported earlier by this blog Here.
The reissue patent will have the same force and effect as the original ‘995 patent and the same June 2011 expiration date (including the six-month pediatric exclusivity period).
Earlier, the patent was invalidated by CAFC in August, 2006 (Particularly claim 6 of this patent due to wrong dependency on claim 2 as per 35 USC 112) during litigation of innovator with Ranbaxy. This patent is a strong barrier for other generic players market entry. Also, innovator has sued generic players like Teva, Apotex and Cobalt for this patent.Earlier news of IPPharmadoc on this product here, and Here
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