Litigation train keeps rolling on

From the Financial Post:
Harry Radomski of the law firm Goodmans in Toronto is lead generic drug counsel for Apotex inc. He's driving a litigation train.

Notice of compliance cases -- a method pharmaceutical companies use for obtaining approval of a new drug -- constitute some 90% of the firm's IP litigation, generating between $10-and $20-million in annual billings for Mr. Radomski and his colleagues.

The truth is that pharmaceutical litigation of the kind known as generic drug litigation is a docket hog. Such cases make up at least 60% of all patent cases in the Federal Court and consume at least 75% of the legal fees. Indeed, on one summer day, 17 of the 20 motions on the Federal Court list in Toronto were pharmaceutical cases.

"IP litigation lawyers should erect a monument to Barry Sherman," says Scott Jolliffe, managing partner of Gowling Lafleur Henderson in Toronto.

Mr. Sherman is the founder of Apotex, Canada's largest pharmaceuticals manufacturer and a maker of generic drugs that fill some 50 million prescriptions in Canada annually -- "the devil incarnate to the brands," as one lawyer calls the company. With costs of $100-million to $1-billion to bring a drug to market, brand-name drugmakers, known as innovators, have a huge investment to recoup. ...more