Mixed US court decision on ViiV Healthcare’s Epzicom and Trizivir patents

19 December 2013

UK pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline (LSE: GSK) and ViiV Healthcare, confirmed that the US District Court for the District of Delaware has upheld the validity of a patent covering the double combination of lamivudine and abacavir (Epzicom) and the triple combination of lamivudine, abacavir and zidovudine (Trizivir).

This patent is US Patent No 6,417,191 B1, and it has an expiry date in March 2016. ViiV is the HIV/AIDS joint venture in which GSK holds a majority share, with other partners being Pfizer and Shionogi.

Israel-based Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (NYSE: TEVA) had previously acknowledged to the court that its generic version of Epzicom infringes the patent. There are no other challengers of this patent for Epzicom at this time, said GSK.

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