Shares of Pfizer Inc. rose 7.7 percent Monday after a U.S. court ruling blocked generic competition until 2011 for the cholesterol drug Lipitor, the world’s best-selling prescription medicine.
U.S. District Judge Joseph J. Farnan Jr. said Friday that a version of the drug by India’s Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd. would infringe on Pfizer’s patents, and he also upheld the validity of the two patents. Farnan issued his ruling after the close of regular trading in the U.S., following a nonjury trial in Wilmington, Del., that ended last December.
The win, the second patent victory this year for a major pharmaceutical company, lifted shares of other U.S. and European drugmakers as investors grow more confident that the companies can defend their products against generic rivals. Lipitor generated almost $11 billion in worldwide sales last year for Pfizer, the world’s biggest drugmaker, or about 20 percent of its total revenue.
