NEW YORK (AFX) - A federal judge blocked sales of a generic version of blood thinner Plavix Thursday while he considers the merits of a claim that a Canadian pharmaceutical company improperly entered the market.
U.S. District Judge Sidney H. Stein issued his written ruling Thursday after a two-day hearing in which Sanofi-Aventis and its partner Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. insisted that the Canadian company, Apotex Inc., must be forced to stop selling its product. Stein denied demands by Bristol-Myers and Sanofi-Aventis that Apotex be forced to withdraw from the market the generic product it had already sold.
Apotex had argued that a patent protecting sales of Plavix from competitors was no longer valid and that it was in the public interest to permit sales of its generic version of the drug because lower prices mean even more people can use a lifesaving drug.
Ontario-based Apotex began selling its product Aug. 8 after negotiations between the three companies failed to settle the dispute.
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