Bayer Cipro generics

Executive Summary

Cipro generics will not launch before December 2003 after an appeals court upheld Bayer's ciprofloxacin compound patent in an Aug. 9 decision. Watson subsidiary Schein argued that the 4,670,444 patent was invalid because Bayer had filed applications in other countries more than 12 months prior to the U.S. application. The Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, however, ruled that Bayer could claim entitlement to the "grandfather" patent of '444. Bayer filed suit against Mylan and Watson subsidiaries Schein and Danbury in 1999 in Trenton, N.J. federal court; Dr. Reddy's intervened as a defendant. Dr. Reddy's ciprofloxacin ANDA was approved July 8...