Forest Laboratories, Inc announced that an Office Action in the Reexamination of U S Patent No. 6,545,040 ('the '040 patent') was received from the U S Patent and Trademark Office ('USPTO') by Janssen Pharmaceutica N V, the patent holder of the '040 patent. The '040 patent covers nebivolol, the active ingredient in Bystolic, a beta blocker, which is currently approved in the United States for the treatment of hypertension.

In the Office Action, the USPTO has rejected all of the pending claims as unpatentable in view of the cited prior art. We believe the claims are patentable over the cited art and we will continue to prosecute the reexamination application. Although there can be no assurance we will prevail in this matter, we remain confident in the strength of the patent covering nebivolol.

Forest Laboratories is a US-based pharmaceutical company with a long track record of building partnerships and developing and delivering products that make a positive difference in people's lives.