Ranbaxy preserves exclusivity period for generic hypertension drug

WASHINGTON — A court has ruled in favor of Indian generic drug maker Ranbaxy Labs in a case concerning a generic blood pressure drug, the legal firm representing the drug maker said.

Zuckerman Spaeder LLP said the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia upheld a Food and Drug Administration decision protecting Ranbaxy's market exclusivity for a generic version of Novartis' drug Diovan (valsartan).

Ranbaxy asserted that as the first company to successfully challenge one of the patents covering Diovan, it was entitled to 180 days of market exclusivity in which to compete directly with the branded version, under the Hatch-Waxman Act of 1984, but another company had sought to challenge the exclusivity.

Interested in this topic? Sign up for our weekly DSN Collaborative Care e-newsletter.