Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd has announced that a Norwegian court today handed down a favourable decision for the company in its case against Pfizer, involving two patents on atorvastatin in Norway. Atorvastatin is a cholesterol-lowering drug, which is marketed by Pfizer as Lipitor.

The Oslo City Court sided with the company by finding non-infringement of two of Pfizer's Norwegian patents (No. 177,566 and No. 180,199), covering particular intermediate compounds. Earlier in November 2005, the Norwegian court had found the company's atorvastatin product not to infringe one of Pfizer's process patents (No. 309,322) but to infringe another of Pfizer's patents (No. 177,706) covering a particular intermediate compound, a Ranbaxy press release said.

The company has already appealed to the Norwegian Court of Appeals against the negative judgment on the one remaining intermediate compound patent.

"This is a most important decision for Ranbaxy, as it significantly validates our position regarding the atorvastatin patents," said Jay Deshmukh, senior vice president, Global Intellectual Property for RLL. "We will continue to actively pursue all of our options in Norway and other markets in order to bring affordable atorvastatin to patients around the world."