Pfizer announced in a recent press release that a jury in the Eastern District of Virginia has found that Pfizer does not infringe Synthon IP’s patent on a process for making amlodipine, the active ingredient in Norvasc. The jury also found Synthon’s patent invalid. Norvasc, a treatment for hypertension, is Pfizer’s second largest selling product after Lipitor, with $4.7 billion in annual sales.
The patents-in-suit were U.S. Patent Nos. 6,653,481 (process patent) and 6,858,738 (compound patent; a divisional of the ‘481). The court construed the claims of these patents in a June 30 Markman ruling.
According to Pfizer’s press release, Pfizer not only published its process for making amlodipine, but Pfizer has been using that process for the last 15 years.
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