Roche drags DRL to court over patents

HYDERABAD: In yet another legal blow to pharma major Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, Swiss healthcare giant Roche Holding AG’s two US-based arms have slapped a lawsuit on the Hyderabad-based company for infringing on a US patent for anti-viral drug Valcyte.
Roche Palo Alto LLC and Genentech Inc, both owned by Basel-based Roche Holding, have filed the lawsuit in the district court of Delaware against DRL’s attempts to market a copy cat version of Valcyte, the patent for which was granted in July 2000.
The Swiss giant has argued that DRL and its US-based arm DRL Inc has infringed on its patent and has sought an order to prevent the sale of generic version of Valcyte till the patent expires in 2015.
Roche said in its lawsuit that “the offer for sale, or use of the proposed generic product in the US would cause injury to plaintiffs for which there is no adequate remedy at law.”