Court: Pfizer can defend Neurontin patent

Pfizer will get its day in court with Neurontin--and its chance to collect at-risk damages from generics companies that pounced on the drug. A federal appeals court overturned portions of a 2005 summary judgment against Pfizer, which had sued several generics makers for infringing on Neurontin's patent, which doesn't expire until 2017.

Pfizer says it plans to pursue full damages from the generics companies that launched their versions of Neurontin at risk. If Pfizer's patent defense is successful, those companies would have to fork over three times the revenues they reaped from sales of their generic versions. Before Neurontin went generic, Pfizer sold $2 billion worth a year. The generics companies involved in the original suit include Teva, Eon Labs (a Novartis subsidiary), and Apotex.

- read Pfizer's press release
- see Teva's press release
- read this article from Dow Jones

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