Canadian Court Strikes Down ViagraPatent reports OnlinePharmacyMD.com

Ruling could lead to cheaper versions of ED drug

Sanfrancisco, CA (prHWY.com) November 21, 2012 - San Francisco, CA- The Supreme Court of Canada, in a blow to drug manufacturer Pfizer, struck down the patent for the company's top-selling erectile dysfunction drugViagra, potentially making it available in affordable generic form.

The unanimous 7-0 ruling by the Canadian high court opens the drug to competitors more than a year ahead of its patent expiration, which will occur in 2014. The Viagrageneric, known as sildenafil, is already being manufactured and on its ways to pharmacists and drug stores.

The lawsuit, brought forth by Teva Canada Ltd., stated in its case against Pfizer that the patent was improper because it did not fully disclose what chemical were used to make the drug work.

Teva began shipping sildenafil immediately in the wake of the ruling.

"We shipped today," a spokeswoman for Teva confirmed in an email.

The failure to disclose what chemicals make the drug work is a principle of patent law, noted David Aitken, Teva's attorney.

"A patent is a bargain between the patent owner and the state," Aitken said. "In return for disclosure, you get the patent monopoly."

The court found that the Viagrapatent cited a formula that could produce "260 quintillion possible compounds."

In later citations, Pfizer listed sic other formulas, although none were able to produce nearly as many variations as the original.

Teva's lawyers argued that trying to find the real compound was akin to trying to find a single "leaf in the forest."

"It left the reader to look through the patent to attempt to find the identity of the one compound that was found to work," Aitken said.

The seven-member judge panel sided with Teva. Justice Louis Lebel wrote in the judgment, "The patent application does not disclose that the compound that works is sildenafil. As a matter of policy and sound statutory interpretation, patentees cannot be allowed to 'game' the system in this way."

In making the decision, the Supreme Court overturned rulings made by the Federal Court and Federal Court of Appeal.

Pfizer officials made no comment in the wake of the decision.

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