Court Denies Effort to Delay Generic Taxol

A federal appeals court in San Francisco has denied a petition from American BioScience Inc. that had threatened to delay Ivax Corp.’s plans to sell a generic form of Taxol, the world’s best-selling cancer drug that is exclusively marketed by drug giant Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals refused to stay an earlier decision by a U.S. district judge that was favorable to Ivax. Nevertheless, Ivax’s patent dispute with Santa Monica-based American BioScience and Bristol-Myers over Taxol remains alive because the tangled matter also is before a New York court. Taxol earns more than $1 billion a year for Bristol-Myers. A generic form of the drug is expected to eventually cut Taxol sales in half. Bristol-Myers shares rose $1.06 to close at $53.31 and Ivax shares rose 38 cents to close at $41.25, both on the NYSE.