Bristol-Myers Loses Drug-Patent Case

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., the world’s largest maker of anti-cancer drugs, lost a patent infringement suit it brought against a joint venture between Nycomed of Norway and Apothekers Coopertie of the Netherlands. The suit concerned an infusion method for the cancer treatment Yewtaxan, which New York-based Bristol-Myers claimed infringed an administration patent it received last month for the drug Taxol, its second-biggest-selling drug, which generated $813 million in sales last year. A Netherlands court had rejected a suit from Bristol-Myers to suspend registration of Yewtaxan, which Nycomed said will be priced lower than its competitor. Yewtaxan and Taxol are the only drugs on the market with the active ingredient paclitaxel, which is used for the treatment of advanced breast and ovarian cancer. Bristol-Myers’ shares fell $1 to close at $81.88 on the NYSE.