Sepracor Inc. and Brussels-based pharmaceutical company UCB SA sued Sandoz Inc., a generic arm of Novartis, in North Carolina on Thursday, marking the third suit the two have filed recently over allergy drug Xyzal. The same plaintiffs sued Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. over Xyzal.
Xyzal (levocetirizine), a once-daily oral antihistamine, was co-developed by UCB and Sepracor as a follow-on product for the market leader Zyrtec (cetirizine), which will lose patent protection in the US in December 2007. Xyzal, indicated for the relief of symptoms associated with allergic rhinitis (seasonal and perennial) and the treatment of uncomplicated skin manifestations of chronic idiopathic urticaria in adults and children six years of age and older, was launched in Europe in 2001.
Under a licensing agreement relating to the antihistamine levocetirizine, Sepracor has exclusively licensed to UCB all of Sepracor’s patents and patent applications in the United States regarding levocetirizine.
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