photo credit: John Carleton via photopin cc
Generic versions of Viagra are likely in the works – in Canada, at least – after the Canadian Supreme Court ruled against Pfizer Inc.’s patent on the drug. In court, Israeli company Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. appealed against the patent, pointing out that Pfizer had been overly vague in its filing. Pfizer’s patent of Viagra, famous for treating erectile dysfunction, ends in 2014.
The Canadian court ruled 7-0 in favor of Teva’s appeal, explaining that Pfizer indeed had not properly gone into enough detail in its patent filing to properly explain which was Viagra’s active ingredient. This was not the first time Pfizer was forced to defend its product in a courtroom; the company successfully stood its ground in the face of Teva’s patent suit in Norway, New Zealand, Spain and the United States.
The case landed in the Canadian Supreme Court after two lower courts ruled against it.
In the ruling, Justice Louis LeBel wrote that Pfizer had benefited from the Patent “Act – exclusive monopoly rights – while withholding disclosure in spite of its disclosure obligations under the act.”
“As a matter of policy and sound interpretation,” he added, “patentees cannot be allowed to ‘game’ the system in this way”.
The company’s Canadian patent was put in place in 1998, with the patent’s seven parts discussing 260 quintillion chemical compounds. However, the only active compound contained in the drug is sildenafil. The court found that Pfizer had neglected to provide the information necessary for another company to produce the drug.
Justice LeBel pointed out that “willful intent to mislead” had not been alleged in this case, and that Pfizer had not explained why it had left this vital information out.
Pfizer is already bracing for the drop in sales. Speaking to Reuters, a spokeswoman for the company declined to comment on how much money the company rakes in via the Canadian Viagra market. Pfizer said in an email statement that officials were “disappointed with the court’s ruling.”
According to Reuters, Pfizer makes $2 billion on annual Viagra sales. Viagra is sixth on the company’s list of biggest-selling products. For more information on erectile dysfunction treatment options, contact Dr. Michael S. Kaplan in Las Vegas.