ICN Sues to Block Sales of Novartis Generic Drug

ICN Pharmaceuticals Inc. sued to block Novartis’ Geneva Pharmaceuticals from selling a generic version of ribavirin, a hepatitis treatment and ICN’s best-selling product.

Costa Mesa-based ICN owns three patents related to ribavirin that expire in 2016. The company received royalties of $155 million in 2000 for the drug, which Schering Plough Corp. sells with its hepatitis C drugs Intron A and Peg-Intron.

Geneva in August filed an application with the Food and Drug Administration seeking approval to sell a generic version of the drug in 200-milligram capsules. ICN says the application infringes its patents, according to its federal suit filed Friday in Santa Ana.

Geneva would gain “substantial unjust profits,” the suit contends.

Geneva contended in its application that certain claims in the ICN patents are invalid, while other claims are not infringed by the generic version, said Jerry McIntyre, general counsel for the Dayton, N.J.-based company.

On the New York Stock Exchange, ICN shares fell 2 cents to $27.08, and the American depositary receipts of Switzerland’s Novartis fell 35 cents to $38.91.