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SSJR Wins Non-Infringement Judgment for Sandoz (Formerly Eon Labs) on its Generic Version of Warner Lambert’s Drug Neurontinâ

August 31, 2005 by in General


In a recent Federal Court decision from the District Court of New Jersey, Judge Lifland has ruled on summary judgment that Sandoz’s (Eon Labs) generic version of Neurontin™ (gabapentin), does not infringe U.S. Patent No. 6,054,482 owned by Warner Lambert (Pfizer).

In its decision the Court found that Sandoz’s generic version of gabapentin does not infringe the Warner Lambert patent because Warner Lambert was unable to meet its burden of proof to show the Sandoz product actually infringed the patent. The patent required that the gabapentin have less than 20 ppm of an anion mineral acid. The Court found that Warner Lambert’s use of a pH test to determine the number of chloride anions in a formulation was “simply not precise enough” to determine infringement. Accordingly, the Court granted the motion holding Sandoz’s generic formulation does not infringe.