AstraZeneca today announced that the Federal Court of Australia has found three
patents protecting CRESTOR (rosuvastatin) to be invalid. These patents – a
formulation patent (AU 200051842, with an expiry date in 2020); a second related
to the use of rosuvastatin for treating heterozygous familial
hypercholesterolemia (AU 2002214165, with an expiry date in 2021); and a third
related to the use of rosuvastatin for treating hypercholesterolemia (AU
2000023051, with an expiry date in 2020) – were challenged by Apotex Pty Ltd,
Watson Pharma Pty Ltd and Ascent Pharma Pty Ltd.
