Global drugmakers face patent challenges in Russia

The Slovenian generics drugmaker KRKA has achieved a rehearing of its case in the Russian Presidium of the Intellectual Rights Court (IPR), which could lead to the revocation of US pharma major AstraZeneca's (LSE: AZN) patent for dapagliflozin - a drug for the treatment of type 2 diabetes, reports The Pharma Letter’s local correspondent.

The rights for the drug were expiring this year, and KRKA planned to launch its product onto the market. However, AstraZeneca received a new patent for the same active ingredient, extending its validity. Now the court has decided that this practice is illegal.

In October 2023, the Presidium of the IPR ordered the Russian Federal Service for Intellectual Property (Rospatent) to reconsider two objections from KRKA to the issuance of patents for the active ingredient dapagliflozin for type 2 diabetes and for the method of its preparation.