02/13/2015 On February 13, 2015, the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey issued a ruling finding U.S. Patent No. 7,524,834 (‘the ‘834 patent’) to be invalid and entered a judgment of non-infringement in favor of Watson Laboratories, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Actavis, Inc.In the litigation, AstraZeneca LP and AstraZeneca AB sought to prevent marketing of a generic equivalent to Pulmicort Respules® (budesonide inhalation suspension) by Watson.After a 14-day bench trial on remand, the District Court concluded that the ‘834 patent is invalid as obvious, and that Watson’s generic budesonide inhalation suspension products do not infringe the ‘834 patent.
William A. Rakoczy, Heinz J. Salmen, Conly S. Wythers and Natasha L. White tried the case for Watson.
This victory continues to place RMMS at the forefront of generic challenges to brand pharmaceutical patents.