OTHER NEWS - April 22, 1995

Glaxo Wins Ruling in Patent Case: England-based drug giant Glaxo said a federal appeals court ruled in its favor in a patent infringement case over its popular Zantac ulcer drug, preventing a Canadian firm from marketing a generic version until 2002. The company said the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled that Canadian firm Novopharm may not market a generic version of Glaxo’s Zantac in the United States until 2002 when the patent expires. The ruling was a “major major victory for Glaxo and the brand patent industry,” said Gruntal & Co. analyst David Saks. Zantac, an anti-ulcer drug, is one of the biggest prescription drugs in the world with annual sales of $2 billion in the United States. Zantac had global sales in 1994 of some $3.5 billion.