U.S. court refrains Dr Reddy’s from launching Allegra

G.V. Prasad (centre), CEO of Dr. Reddy's Labs flanked by K. Satish Reddy (left), COO and MD and Umang Vohra, CFO announces the financial results of the company in Hyderabad on May 6, 2010. Photo: P.V. Sivakumar

In a major setback to Pharma major Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, a court in the U.S. has passed an injunction order against the company, refraining it from launching its generic version of Allegra D24 in the U.S. market.

Dr Reddy’s which had received approval from the U.S. FDA to market the drug in March has said it disagrees with the court’s decision and would file an appeal.

As per estimates, the market size for this drug is around $ 200 million.

The District Court of New Jersey granted a preliminary injunction on the launch of Allegra D24 based on an application filed by Albany Molecular Research Inc (AMRI) and Sanofi-Aventis.

In September 2009, AMRI filed a patent infringement lawsuit in the Court against Dr Reddy’s for infringement of one of its patents related to the manufacturing process for the active ingredient in Allegra, Allegra D12, and Allegra D24 Hour and joined hands with French drug maker Sanofi-Aventis SA, which sells Allegra to file the law suit.

Dr Reddy’s had agreed to hold the launch of Allegra D in the U.S. markets until the hearing in May. Now the company would need to wait further till its appeal is taken up for hearing.