Schering-Plough Sues to Block Generic Drug

Schering-Plough Corp. has sued closely held Three Rivers Pharmaceuticals LLC in another attempt to block a generic version of ribavirin, a treatment for the liver disease hepatitis C.

Schering-Plough and Costa mesa-based drug maker ICN Pharmaceuticals Inc. have also sued to block Novartis’ Geneva Pharmaceuticals from selling generic ribavirin.

Schering-Plough and ICN together own five patents covering the hepatitis treatment. Schering-Plough said it owns patents for a capsule form of ribavirin. Schering-

Plough markets the ribavirin capsules with its drugs Intron A and Peg-Intron.

Three Rivers applied to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in August for permission to market a generic form of ribavirin. That application infringes two Schering-Plough patents, the Kenilworth, N.J.-based drug maker claims in a lawsuit filed in federal court in Pittsburgh.

Three Rivers, based in the Pittsburgh suburb of Cranberry Township, denied that it was infringing any patents.

“It’s just an attempt by a brand to delay introduction of a generic,” said company President Donald Kerrish. “Not only are they doing everything they can to take competition out of the market, they just raised the prices.”