Wyeth appeals $58m patent award on vitamin

CT-based Competitive Technologies said last week that drugmaker Wyeth has filed an appeal with the US Supreme Court to overturn a $58 million patent infringement award granted by a federal court to the University of Colorado.

The University of Colorado is a client of Competitive Technologies, a technology transfer and licensing provider, which said in a release that it had been advised of Wyeth's plans to fight back on the case which has been running for more than 10 years.

The litigation involves a prenatal vitamin supplement marketed by Wyeth under the Materna name. A federal court in Colorado ruled in 2002 that Wyeth had infringed university research on an improved formulation of the supplement.

John B. Nano, president and CEO of CTT, said the company did not expect the Supreme court to hear a case "already decided by multiple decisions of the lower courts".

"Wyeth seems to be unfairly determined to delay the resolution of the case after more than ten years," added Nano.

The litigation began in 1993 for product sales between 1984 and 1994.