AstraZeneca’s patent protection for Pulmicort Respules upheld by US court

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has reversed and remanded for further proceedings a trial court decision that generic defendants involved in litigation with Anglo-Swedish drug major AstraZeneca (LSE: AZN) do not infringe a patent protecting Pulmicort Respules (budesonide inhalation suspension) in the USA.

The Court of Appeals upheld, however, the trial court’s decision that another patent protecting AstraZeneca’s Pulmicort Respules in the USA is invalid.

In May, AstraZeneca announced that the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued a temporary injunction blocking generic manufacturers from distributing generic versions of Pulmicort Respules in the USA during the pendency of AstraZeneca’s appeal.