Allergan, a technology-driven, global health care company providing eye care and specialty pharmaceutical products worldwide, announced that the United States District Court for the Northern District of California ruled in favour of Allergan, Inc. and Syntex LLC in their patent infringement suit against Apotex, Inc., Apotex Corp., and Novex Pharma (the "Apotex Defendants").

Specifically, after a trial that took place in the summer of 2003, the Honorable Martin Jenkins held that U.S. Patent No. 5,110,493 (the "493 patent") covering Allergan's non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) Acular (ketorolac tromethamine ophthalmic solution 0.5 per cent) is valid and enforceable against the Apotex Defendants and their attempted generic version of Acular.

Earlier this year, Judge Jenkins found that the Apotex Defendants' proposed generic infringed each of the 16 claims of the '493 patent and granted partial summary judgment in favor of Allergan and Syntex. With the most recent ruling, the Apotex Defendants should not be permitted to market a generic version of Acular until the '493 patent expires in 2009.

"We are pleased that the Court upheld the validity of our intellectual property and blocked the Apotex Defendants from launching a generic form of our product Acular," said Allergan's executive vice president and general counsel, Douglas S. Ingram. "This is a victory for Allergan and for the medical community. New medicines that benefit patients come only from innovation, and respect for patents is the life blood of that innovation."

Acular is the number one prescribed ophthalmic NSAID both in the United States and in the world. Acular is used for a range of conditions including allergy, photophobia, post-surgical pain, and post-surgical inflammation.