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Dr Reddy's sued on generic Prozac

A US drug development firm has filed a law suit against Dr Reddy's Laboratories alleging the Indian firm infringed its patents on generic Prozac, a top official at Dr Reddy's said on Monday.

Sales of the generic Prozac, an antidepressant, played a major part in boosting Dr Reddy's July-September financial performance.

Chief executive officer G V Prasad told Reuters from Hyderabad that North Carolina-based aaiPharma Inc has filed a suit in a Wilmington court against his company and Barr Laboratories on generic Prozac.

Barr, which last month reported a surge in July-September profits helped by generic Prozac sales, and aaiPharma could not be immediately reached for comment.

"They (aaiPharma) have sued both of us as they feel we are infringing some of their patents on fluoxetine. But we expect the aaiPharma patents will be found to be invalid," he said.

Fluoxetine is the active ingredient in Prozac and its generic copies. The main patent on fluoxetine, held by Eli Lilly, expired in early August.

Dr Reddy's reported generic Prozac sales of $35 million helped net profit rise almost four-fold to Rs 1.43 billion in the July-September quarter.

Pharmaceutical Resources Inc is Dr Reddy's marketing partner for generic Prozac in the United States.

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