Watson Pharmaceuticals: Pfizer Seeks To Block Generic Viagra

6/5/2011 4:55:12 PM

Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc. (WPI) said Pfizer Inc. (PFE) is suing Watson to prevent the generic drug maker from selling a knock-off version of Viagra.

The company said Thursday it has applied for regulatory approval to sell its sildenafil citrate tablets, a generic version of Pfizer's erectile-dysfunction treatment.

But it said Pfizer filed suit Wednesday to prevent Watson's commercializing the competitor prior to a patent expiration.

A Pfizer representative wasn't able to comment immediately on the matter.

Viagra accounted for $1.93 billion in sales for Pfizer last year, representing about 2.8% of total revenue.

Watson shares were up 0.2% at $64.04 after hours while Pfizer's were up 1 cent at $21.01.

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-2011…

6 comments

Latest

georgmicrodong

•

13 years ago

Why does Watson think they're gonna get a bye on the patent restriction one microsecond before it expires? I could see it if Viagra were a sovereign cure for every STD known to man, or some other highly desirable cure where Pfizer could be demonized for not providing it gratis, but not Viagra.

samsung1

•

13 years ago

you must be a PFE shareholder lol

georgmicrodong

•

13 years ago

It's possible; I have a fair few dollars in pharmaceutical mutual funds, and I don't keep track of each and every share. Probably have some Watson though, too. :) I'm just irritated by this type of thing.

CCRiderm

•

13 years ago

Actually, what was applied for was approval of the drug. Their patent expires March 27, 2012 and Watson wants to have their drug already approved and ready to ship. No sense waiting until later to dick around with the approval process.

Here are the details on the Viagra patent:

http://www.accessrx.com/research/viagra-…

CCRiderm

•

13 years ago

There is an whole other patent that Pfizer is trying to enforce in order to block any generics until 2019. This is currently under debate and lawsuits.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=n…

georgmicrodong

•

13 years ago

Oh well, that's a different story then. Pfuck Pfizer, in that case.

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