GENEVA (AFP) — Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis said Monday it had filed a lawsuit in the United States against Israeli generic drugmaker Teva, over patents for two medications to treat bone diseases.
The lawsuit, which was filed on Thursday, aims to prevent Teva -- the world's largest generic drug company -- from selling generic versions of the two drugs, Zometa and Reclast, until their patents expire in 2013, a Novartis spokesman said.
The drug company spokesman could not say when the US court might reach a decision in the patent case.
In the first half of this year, Novartis reported sales of the drug Zometa, which is used to fight bone cancer, at 677 million dollars (430 million euros) and Reclast, used to treat post-menopausal osteoporosis, at 103 million dollars.
Novartis has already gone before the US courts to fight the introduction of generic versions of its drug Famvir for treating genital herpes and Lotrel for hypertension by Teva.
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