AstraZeneca Wins Summary Judgment

AstraZeneca has been granted summary judgment for no inequitable conduct in Seroquel patent litigation and strategically avoided running into expensive and time-consuming expert discovery trial that was scheduled to begin on August 11 against the generic manufacturers Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and Sandoz. Teva and Sandoz had already conceded infringement and the validity of the ‘288 patent, leaving only inequitable conduct contentions. Teva said it plans to appeal the judgment by the US District Court for the District of New Jersey. AstraZeneca sued Teva in September 2005 for willful infringement of Orange book listed US 4,879,288 protecting Seroquel drug substance Quetiapine Fumarate. The lawsuit was in response to an Abbreviated New Drug Application filed by Teva with the United States Food & Drug Administration seeking marketing approval of generic Seroquel before the expiration of the ‘288 patent. Later in April 2007, AstraZeneca sued Sandoz following submission of an Abbreviated New Drug Application by Sandoz intended for marketing approval prior to the expiration of the ‘288 patent. In February 2008, AstraZeneca filed a motion for summary judgment that the ‘288 patent is not obvious and that there has been no inequitable conduct.