US District Court Rules Against Merck in NASONEX Patent Lawsuit

Merck MRK announced Friday that the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey ruled against the company in a patent infringement suit against Apotex Inc. and Apotex Corp. "While we are pleased with the court's ruling that the patent for NASONEX is valid, we are disappointed the court ruled that this patent would not be infringed by the Apotex product. We believe the patent for NASONEX in the United States is valid and would be infringed by the Apotex product," said Bruce N. Kuhlik, executive vice president and general counsel of Merck. "Today's decision reflects just one step in the lengthy patent litigation process, and we plan to review all of our options, including a likely appeal of the decision." The patent at issue in this case is U.S. Patent No. 6,127,353 that covers mometasone furoate monohydrate, the active ingredient in NASONEX and which provides exclusivity for this form of mometasone until April 3, 2018. Apotex is seeking U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval to sell a generic version of NASONEX.