Pfizer Inc., the world’s biggest drug maker, sued to prevent Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. from selling a generic version of the Viagra impotence drug.
Teva, the world’s biggest maker of generic medicines, is seeking U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval to market a copy of the drug, whose chemical name is sildenafil citrate. New York-based Pfizer, in a complaint filed March 24, contends the copy would infringe a patent that expires in October 2019.
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Teva, based in Petah Tikva, Israel, has received tentative approval to sell a copy of the medicine and plans to begin sales when another patent on Viagra expires in March 2012, Pfizer said in the complaint. The treatment for erectile dysfunction generated $1.89 billion in sales last year for Pfizer, including $962 million in the United States, making it the company’s fifth-biggest drug.
