Abbott Laboratories sued Novartis AG's Sandoz and Cadila Healthcare Ltd.'s Zydus to prevent them from selling generic versions of the epilepsy drug Depakote ER in the U.S.
Sandoz, the world's second-largest generic drug-maker, and Zydus are separately seeking U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval to sell copycat versions of the medicine, whose active ingredient is divalproex sodium. Abbott contends the generic drugs would infringe four patents for the controlled-release version of Depakote that expire in 2018.
In their applications, Sandoz and Zydus said they wouldn't infringe the patents "but did not argue that any of these patents are invalid or unenforceable," North Chicago-based Abbott said in the complaints. It contends the generic versions would infringe the patents and seeks a court order to prevent regulatory approval of the applications until the patents expire.
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