UK blocks sales of generic Yasmin
Europe’s biggest drug company, Bayer AG, has won a lawsuit in the United Kingdom, protecting the patent on its birth control pill Yasmin against a challenge by Hungary’s Gedeon Richter Nyrt. Justice Christopher Floyd ruled in the High Court of London that the inventions the patents covered for Yasmin would not have been “obvious” to experts in the industry. The ruling is in contrast to a case in the United States in 2008, in which the Yasmin patent was found to be invalid because it was “obvious” to other experts in the field. That ruling opened the door for Israel’s massive generic drug manufacturer, Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd., to sell a version of Yasmin, known as Ocella, in the United States.
Rebecca Anderson-Hull of Texas blames her birth control pills for damaging her brain and forcing her to need assistance walking, eating and even being understood. It happened two years ago when the 46-year-old mother of three suddenly and unexpectedly suffered a pulmonary embolism, or a blood clot in her lungs. She was rushed to the hospital but the lack of oxygen had caused massive brain damage. She will never be able to care for herself again, doctors said.