The Federal Court of Canada recently ruled in favour of Apotex, clearing the way to deliver their generic version of Plavix®, Apo-Clopidogrel, to the Canadian market. Apotex challenged the Sanofi-aventis Plavix® patents for over eight years,through two FederalCourtsystemsandmultiplelevels of judicial review, including the Supreme Court of Canada. “Apotex is proud to have been the only generic company in Canada to have successfully taken on enormous risk and lead the legal pursuit to deliver a cost saving alternative to Plavix® for Canadians” stated Mr. Jack Kay, Apotex President. The Clopidogrel market in Canada is valued at over $300 million in annual brand sales.Apotex’s successful litigation of the Plavix® patents comes seven years prior to all patents expiring and this represents an accumulative savings of an estimated one billion dollars to the Canadian healthcare system.
