HEALTH

Court Upholds Five AZT Patents: The disputed patents for the primary drug for treating AIDS belong to Burroughs Wellcome Co., a three-judge appeals panel has ruled. The decision by the panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington rejected claims by two generic drug manufacturers that Burroughs, of Research Triangle Park, N.C., was not exclusively entitled to the patents. The other companies said some preliminary testing was conducted at the National Institutes of Health. The opinion issued Tuesday upholds a 1993 ruling by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina on five of six patents that were being contested by Barr Laboratories Inc. and Novopharm Ltd. For the sixth patent, the appeals court said Novopharm should be given an opportunity to support its claim by presenting evidence at trial.