Galen Holdings PLC announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has issued a patent for chewable oral contraceptives. This patent covers the company’s Ovcon 35 chewable tablet product, which received final FDA approval in November 2003.

US Patent No. 6,667,050 was issued to Galen (Chemicals) Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Galen. The patent’s inventors are Galen CEO, Roger M Boissonneault and Dr Tina deVries, the company’s vice president, Pharmaceutics. The patent expires on June 12, 2021.

Galen is a specialty pharmaceutical company based in Craigavon, Northern Ireland and Rockaway, New Jersey, US. The Galen group of companies develops, acquires and manufactures branded prescription pharmaceutical products, which are promoted by the group’s sales and marketing divisions in the UK, Ireland and the US.