Indian pharmaceutical company wins antibiotic case

India's largest pharmaceutical company by sales, Ranbaxy Laboratories, said yesterday that it has won a patents infringement case brought against it by the UK's GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) in a US court.

GSK first brought the matter before the US District Court for the district of New Jersey in October 2000 against Ranbaxy's product, which was the antibiotic Cefuroxime Axetil medicine, a generic version of Glaxo SmithKline's Ceftin.

The District Court originally granted GSK a preliminary injunction that initially kept Ranbaxy from marketing its antibiotic.

However, after a full trial, the district court has determined that Ranbaxy's product does not infringe GSK's patent rights and Ranbaxy is not required to pay any damages to GSK.

Earlier this week, Ranbaxy said that it has plans to set up units in Australia and New Zealand to tap the potential for selling generic drugs in these countries.