Business Desk

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

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NEW YORK SUN CONTRIBUTOR

PHARMACEUTICALS


BRITISH COURT UPHOLDS PFIZER PATENT; DECISION MAY BE HARBINGER
A decision in a London courtroom involving a patent dispute with Pfizer’s Lipitor, the best-selling drug in the world, might be a harbinger of the outcome in a court located across the ocean.


The U.K. High Court of Justice yesterday upheld until November 2011 the main patent covering Lipitor. Patent 633 covers atorvastatin, the active ingredient of the company’s cholesterol-lowering drug. However, the court ruled invalid another patent, called number 281, that covers the calcium salt of atorvastatin.


The ruling is part of a lawsuit brought by Indian generic-drug manufacturer Ranbaxy Laboratories, which challenged the two patents. Ranbaxy said it would appeal its loss in the first patent, while Pfizer said it would appeal its loss in the second. There’s a similar patent case being fought in America, with a decision expected from the U.S. District Court of Delaware later this year. Analysts expect similar results, with the main patent upheld but the secondary overturned. Few seem concerned about any effect on American sales of Lipitor from the case.


– Dow Jones Newswires


INVESTMENTS


LEHMAN RAISES $650M FOR DIVERSIFIED FUND OF FUNDS
Touting relationships with many of the industry’s blue-chip managers, the private fund investments arm of Lehman Brothers has raised $650 million for a diversified fund of funds.The fund of funds, Lehman Crossroads Series 17, is Lehman Brothers’ first since it acquired Dallas-based manager Crossroads Group two years ago.


– Dow Jones Newswires


IN BRIEF


The New York Mercantile Exchange will spend as much as $15 million to bolster its electronic trading as more customers demand the ability to buy and sell on computer screens … Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said the economy has weathered the surge in energy prices “reasonably well” in part because of deregulation and financial tools developed over the years to spread risk … Kirk Kerkorian, the billionaire who launched a failed takeover of Chrysler a decade ago, raised his stake in General Motors to 9.9% as the automaker may extend its longest string of quarterly losses in 13 years … Northwest Airlines, saying it’s quickly running out of cash, asked a bankruptcy court for permission to impose pay and benefit reductions on its workers if it can’t reach new contract agreements with unions … Bridgestone said its North American unit agreed to pay Ford Motor $240 million to settle a 2000 voluntary recall and Ford’s 2001 tire-replacement program. – Bloomberg News

NY Sun
NEW YORK SUN CONTRIBUTOR

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.


The New York Sun

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