04/01/2013 On April 1, 2013, the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey issued a ruling finding U.S. Patent No. 6,598,603 to be invalid and that Watson Laboratories, Inc. does not infringe U.S. Patent No. 7,524,834. In the litigation, AstraZeneca LP and AstraZeneca AB sought to prevent marketing of a generic equivalent to Pulmicort Respules® (budesonide suspension) by Watson (k/n/a Actavis). After a 7-week bench trial, and a 6-dayMarkmanhearing, the District Court concluded that the ‘603 patent is invalid as obvious and anticipated by the prior art, and that Watson’s generic product does not infringe the ‘834 patent.
This victory continues to place RMMS at the forefront of generic challenges to brand pharmaceutical patents.
William Rakoczy, Tara Raghavan, Heinz Salmen, Conly Wythers, and Natasha White tried the case for Watson/Actavis.