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news.A US court of appeal has informed QLT that its injunction against promoting, manufacturing, and selling Eligard has been stayed, causing marketing partner Sanofi-Synthelabo to suspend sales of the drug in the US until May.
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Eligard is a member of a class of drugs known as luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone agonists, also called LHRH agonists. It is used in the treatment of prostate cancer, endometriosis and uterine fibroids.
Sanofi-Synthelabo informed QLT USA in February that, unless the court explicitly permits the continued sale of Eligard, or a license is granted, the company may elect to suspend Eligard sales in the US until TAP's '721 patent expires.
The litigation began in 2003 when TAP and its co-plaintiffs sued Atrix Laboratories, (now QLT USA) and Sanofi-Synthelabo, for patent infringement. QLT USA and Sanofi-Synthelabo raised defenses of invalidity and unenforceability of the '721 patent in response to TAP and its co-plaintiff's allegations of infringement.
In a judgment entered in January 2006, the court rejected these defenses. Then, on February 27, 2006, the US district court for the northern district of Illinois Eastern Division granted an injunction enjoining QLT, Sanofi-Aventis and their subsidiaries from promoting, manufacturing, selling and offering for sale QLT USA's Eligard product in the US until the '721 patent expires on May 1, 2006.
QLT USA and Sanofi-Synthelabo said that they intend to continue to vigorously defend this case, and to seek an appeal of the adverse judgment in the court of appeals.
Despite the disappointing news, shares in both QLT and Sanofi-Aventis have risen following the announcement.