 The lawsuit is just the latest in a series |
Drugs company Dr Reddy's is taking Pfizer to court to try to get permission to market a copycat version of one of pharmaceutical giant's blockbuster drugs. Dr Reddy's Laboratories, which is based in Hyderabad in India, said it had filed a lawsuit in New Jersey, in the US, claiming that it should be allowed to sell a generic version of the anti-depressant Zoloft.
The company said it was already seeking market approval from the US Food and Drug Administration to sell its own brand of the drug.
It has also filed a challenge to four of the five key patents relating to Zoloft.
The news pushed the firm's shares higher in India on Tuesday.
More challenges
Under US law, Pfizer could have launched its own lawsuit against Dr Reddy's to try to halt the generic drug, but it has not done so.
Pfizer is the world's biggest drugs company. It has said its profits target this year assumes that none of its drugs will face cheap generic competition.
But anti-convulsant Neurontin, hypertension drug Norvasc and Zoloft are all the subject of court battles over copycat or altered versions.
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