Indian Pharmaceutical Company Dr Reddy’s Sues AstraZeneca over Colour of Nexium Generic

India based drug maker Dr Reddy’s has filled out a lawsuit in a US court against Anglo-Swedish drug giant AstraZeneca claiming material breach of a settlement agreement that had released the organization from any liability in connection with generic types of Nexium, the blockbuster drug used to deal with heartburns and gastric ulcers.

Recently AstraZeneca as part of a lawsuit against Dr Reddy’s moved in a Delaware Court received a temporary restraining order preventing the Indian company from marketing generics of Nexium on bases of trademark violation for making use of the colour purple, which was identical to the branded drug.

AstraZeneca had stated to the court that its purple coloured pill is secured by 3 federal trademarks and the copy drug introduced by Dr Reddy’s in September 2015 could be confusing to customers. In add-on to Dr Reddy’s, generic type of Nexium is marketed by firms like as Mylan and Teva in colours like blue and white.

Countering that move, in its November 17 filings in the New Jersey Court, Dr Reddy’s has stated that as part of an earlier agreement in 2011, AstraZeneca was made conscious and had full understanding that DRL expected to utilize the colour purple for its capsule.

The Indian drug manufacturer noted, AstraZeneca’s move to take legal action against Dr Reddy’s were committed wilfully, intentionally, maliciously and in aware disregard of AstraZeneca’s legal obligations to DRL and triggered immediate, great, irreparable harm to DRL’s property and business. The organization has claimed for damages.

Subsequent to the ANDA filings for Nexium generic by Dr Reddy’s a few years back, the Dr Reddy’s petition stated AZ had sued Dr Reddy’s for patent violation and while in that suit, DRL produced portions of its ANDA and physical samples, which revealed the ingredients, form, packaging and look of its proposed generic product, which includes that its proposed capsule was purple.

A report from HSBC analyst Girish Bakhru approximated sales prediction of $55 million for Dr Reddy’s during the year, but included that figure is predicated on the product getting back into the market within a specified time-frame. In a separate development, Lundin Law, a Los Angeles-based law company specialising in securities litigations said it is analyzing claims against Indian drug company Dr Reddy’s concerning possible violations of government securities laws.

The investigation, the law company in a November 18 release stated is relevant to claims that certain statements released by Dr Reddy’s were fake and misleading regarding the organization’s financial performance. The law company made a general appeal to join a class action suit noting that “no category has been certified in its action. Till a class is certified, you are not considered represented by an attorney. You may also select to do nothing and be an absent class member”.

Dr Reddy’s refuted statements made by the law firm. In a statement, it stated, “Dr Reddy’s has continually followed to all disclosure specifications both of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SECs) and Indian stock exchanges; which includes accounting practices according to the International Financial Reporting Standards ( IFRS) and the Indian Accounting Standards. The Organization has no even more comment on what might be advertorial Press releases by law firms and refutes all allegations.”