Generic Taxol

Executive Summary

"It is really unclear what the implications are" of appeals court ruling in Bristol v. Ivax generic paclitaxel case, Bristol says. Appellate court upheld findings of district court on eight of 10 patent claims, but ruled that two pre-medication claims should proceed to trial. "We're basing our plan for the remainder of this year and going forward on the assumption that we'll have generic competition in the U.S.," Bristol says, but "we will pursue whatever avenues are available to us on the legal side." U.S. Taxol sales fell 32% during the quarter to $180 mil. in the face of generic competition from Ivax