Pharmacia sues Alcon for trademark infringement

Pharmacia has filed a lawsuit against Nestle subsidiary Alcon on thegrounds that the latter's newly-approved drug Travatan (travoprost) contravenes trade marks held by Pharmacia on its Xalatan (latanoprost) glaucoma drug. Xalatan is the leader in the market for ophthalmic solutions for glaucoma, with sales of around $800 million a year (Marketletter April 2).

The suit alleges that Alcon is infringing upon Pharmacia's Xalatan trade mark by selecting Travatan as the name of its product, which it claims is too similar and could lead to the drugs being confused. Alcon is "trading upon Pharmacia's goodwill and associating its new product with Xalatan," according to the Swedish-US firm. Alcon dismissed the allegations as having "no factual basis" and said it would contest the lawsuit.