Challenge to UK Levofloxacin SPC and Underlying Patent is Over

For Immediate Release Company name: DAIICHI SANKYO COMPANY, LIMITED Representative: Takashi Shoda, President and Representative Director (Code no.: 4568, First Section, Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya Stock Exchanges) Please address inquiries to Toshiaki Sai, General Manager, Corporate Communications Department Telephone: +81-3-6225-1126 http://www.daiichisankyo.com/ Challenge to UK Levofloxacin SPC and Underlying Patent is Over Tokyo, Japan (November 16, 2009) - Daiichi Sankyo Company, Limited (TSE: 4568), announced that the UK Supreme Court has refused the application made by Generics [UK] Ltd for permission to appeal the order made by the UK Court of Appeal, in which the Court of Appeal held that Daiichi Sankyo's supplementary protection certificate (SPC) No. SPC/GB97/085 for its broad spectrum antibacterial agent, levofloxacin, is valid. This order means that GUK's challenge to the validity of the SPC and the underlying patent (European Patent (UK) No. 0206283) in the UK is now at an end. Daiichi Sankyo has granted an exclusive license to Sanofi-aventis to make, use, and sell pharmaceutical preparations containing levofloxacin in the UK. Sanofi-aventis markets levofloxacin products in the UK under the trade name TAVANIC®. Supplementary Protection Certificate (SPC) A SPC is an Intellectual Property Right that extends the protection of a patented pharmaceutical product (or a plant protection product) after the expiry of the patent. End

The release as fetched from its publisher. daiichisankyo.com ↗