Media Mention

Winston & Strawn litigation partner James Hurst, chair of the firm's intellectual property practice, was quoted in an Oct. 26, 2009 Bloomberg article titled "Sanofi-Aventis Faces Hospira, Apotex in Patent Trial."

The article reported the start of a bench trial in which France's largest Drugmaker, Sanofi-Aventis SA, is accusing U.S.-based Hospira Inc. and Canada's Apotex Inc. of patent infringement over the cancer drug Taxotere. Attorneys for Sanofi are asking a judge to rule that the companies infringed the patents by applying for U.S. Food and Drug Administration permission to market versions of the injectable drug, according to the article.

Hospira asserts it has not infringed, because the technology is not new and the formulations would be obvious to a skilled chemist, the article reports.

"Ours is a better formulation," said Hurst, who's representing Hospira. "It's an improved product."

Taxotere has produced nearly $8 billion in sales since its approval in 1996, according to the report, and is used to treat breast, lung, prostate, gastric, and head and neck cancers.