The U K High Court granted the Ranbaxy Laboratories permission to appeal the ruling of October 12, 2005 that its atorvastatin product would infringe Warner Lambert/Pfizer's European patent 247 633 in the UK, a company release stated here. Atorvastatin is a cholesterol-lowering drug which is marketed by Pfizer as Lipitor.

In his October 12, judgment, Justice Pumfrey had ruled that Warner Lambert/Pfizer's European patent 409 281 was invalid in the UK but that the company's proposed product would infringe Warner Lambert/Pfizer's patent 247 633.

In his decision, Justice Pumfrey granted permission to both the company and Pfizer to appeal the respective rulings in the UK Court of Appeal. The outcome of both appeals is expected by the end of 2006, the release added.

Malvinder Singh, President of the company, said: "Having already been successful in invalidating one of the two key Pfizer patents relating to atorvastatin in the UK, Ranbaxy is encouraged to have been granted the opportunity to make its case on the infringement decision on the other patent before the UK Court of Appeal. We remain committed to our objective of bringing an affordable generic formulation of atorvastatin to the National Health Service in the UK."

Technically, the case was brought against Warner Lambert, the original holder of the patents which was acquired by Pfizer in 2000.