Pfizer seeks to correct defect in Lipitor patent

Pfizer files a reissue application with the U.S. Patent Trademark Office to correct a "technical defect" in its patent covering the active enantiomeric form of its blockbuster Lipitor, Pfizer's 2006 financial report indicates. A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled in August 2006 that a patent claim was invalid on technical grounds. The court also affirms that the basic patent covering Lipitor is valid and thus infringed by Ranbaxy's ANDA for atorvastatin. Ranbaxy, according to Pfizer, filed a petition for a writ of certiorari in January to the Supreme Court to have the Federal Circuit panel's ruling reviewed...