Global pharma giant AstraZeneca has sued Ahmedabad-based Torrent Pharma for allegedly infringing its patent coverage related to schizophrenia drug Seroquel XR (Quetiapine fumarate) in the US market. In a lawsuit filed at the United States District Court for New Jersey, AstraZeneca has sought permanent injunction against patent infringement of its blockbuster drug Seroquel that fetches the firm global annual revenues of over $4.5 billion. Of this, around $2.9 billion is clocked in the US market alone. The first patent related to the drug will expire in September 2011 while there are other patents, scheduled to expire in 2017.
However, Torrent is not the first generic firm to pursue the generic opportunity and would not be entitled to the ‘first to file’ status which gives an 180 days marketing exclusivity to the generic player. There are many other drug firms including another Ahmedabad-based Intas chasing this generic opportunity in the US market. Other firms in the race to produce the generic version of the anti psychotic drug include the US-based Handa, Canada-based Biovail Corp, US headquartered and Anchen Pharma.