The positive ruling protects P&G’s rights in the US to exclusively market the osteoporosis therapy Actonel. On August 13, 2004 P&G filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Teva to enforce P&G’s US composition of matter patent for risedronate, the active ingredient in Actonel. Teva was seeking to market a generic version of Actonel in the US under the assertion that the Actonel patent was not valid due to obviousness of the invention. This particular ruling upheld the P&G patent, expressly rejecting Teva’s validity challenge.
Tom Finn, P&G’s president, global health care, said: “We are pleased that the Court recognized and acknowledged the uniqueness of the risedronate molecule.”