Wyeth Temporarily Blocks Generic Effexor Being Sold in Australia
A unit of Pfizer Inc., Wyeth has beaten a challenge from generic drug makers against a patent on the extended release version of Effexor. This occurred in Australia.
On November 7, federal courts judge Jayne Jagot dismissed the challenge filed by Sigma Pharmaceuticals, Generic Health Ltd. and Alphapharm Ltd. She dismissed the challenge because she ruled that Wyeth's patent was valid. Jagot said that she wouldn't revoke the patent because the applicants didn't establish proper grounds for her to do it.
Sigma lost about AU$218.5 million (US$221 million) in the six months that ended July 31, and the other makers of generic drugs are not allowed to sell any copies of Effexor. This is in accordance to the ruling. Effexor was Wyeth's most popular and profitable antidepressant drug. In 2008 alone, the drug sold AU$3.9 billion dollars worth. That is, of course, until generic versions of the drug started being released and sold. After this, Effexor sales dropped to AU$175 million during their third quarter.
Jagot also decided to put an order against Sigma and the other generic drug makers to force them to destroy any copies that they might still have of Effexor. The order was suspended for a period of 14 days or at least until her ruling starts going through the appeals process. Sigma was selling their generic version of Effexor under the name Evelexa in May 2009 in Australia. Within a month, Wyeth was granted an order that blocked the sale of the generic version until the trial.
Generic versions of popular antidepressant drugs like Effexor are getting to be more and more popular with consumers. Most people would prefer to get these drugs on a discounted price rather than pay full amounts for medications that are taken over a long period of time; still, profits for the generic drug manufacturers like Sigma will continue to fall drastically if these blocks continue.
