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Pfizer Protects Celebrex Patent From Teva
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2008/03/08 11:12
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| pPfizer continued to serve up the pain to Teva Pharmaceutical Industries on Friday when the company reaffirmed its patents on the arthritis pain drug Celebrex./ppThe U.S. Court of Appeals of the Federal District said that two of the three patents were valid, but threw out the third, saying that it was not valid for the treatment of inflammation. Teva will now have to wait until May 2014 to market the copycat. Celebrex provided Pfizer with annual global sales of $1.7 billion in 2007. Bear Stearns analyst project that it will reach global sales of $2.5 billion in 2008, an increase of 9%, and that the drug will pull in $3.1 billion by 2012./ppThe New York-based pharma company has been battling it out with Teva Pharmaceutical Industries to hang on to Celebrex for almost four years. Pfizer sued the Israel-based drug maker after it applied to U.S. regulators for permission to sell the generic in 2004. In March 2007, Pfizer won a ruling from a U.S. federal court over three of the main patents regarding Celebrex, barring Teva from manufacturing the generic until 2015. /p |
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US lawmaker fears open-ended US military pact in Iraq
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2008/03/06 12:48
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pA top lawmaker voiced fears Tuesday that US President George Bush's administration was negotiating deals with Iraq that would amount to an open-ended commitment to stage US combat missions there./ppAdministration officials say formal US-Iraqi negotiations will begin later this month on a legal framework aimed at keeping security policy options open for both countries beyond 2008, when the UN mandate for US forces ends./ppDavid Satterfield, the State Department's coordinator for Iraq, told a joint meeting of two congressional subcommittees Tuesday that the agreements will not tie the hands of the next president or indeed this president./ppThey will ensure that every policy option remains on the table, Satterfield told the lawmaking panels. The size of the US presence in Iraq, the missions to be performed by such forces if forces are present, are decisions for the president and the next president to make, he added.
The so-called Strategic Framework and the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), he insisted, will not include a binding commitment to defend Iraq or any other security commitments that would warrant Senate advice and consent./p |
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Team New Zealand take Swiss champions to court
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2008/03/06 08:58
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| The New Zealand syndicate for the next America's Cup race said Thursday it is seeking tens of millions of euros in compensation from Swiss champions Alinghi over the event's postponement.pTeam New Zealand said it had filed a case with a New York court claiming damages for breach of contract arising from an agreement covering its entry for the 33rd edition of yachting's showpiece event./ppThe agreement included an understanding entered into by (Alinghi boss) Ernesto Bertarelli that the America's Cup would go ahead in 2009, it said in a statement./ppIt's now probable we might not see a normal regatta until 2011, Team New Zealand's managing director Grant Dalton said in the statement./ppThe statement did not indicate the amount of damages it was seeking. But Dalton told AFP in a telephone interview from New York that it would be tens of millions of euros./ppWe have a duty to protect the investment in the team over many years by a wide range of loyal supporters, Dalton said./ppWe also have an obligation to honour the trust shown by the hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders who have supported the team through the years./ppAlinghi retained the America's Cup by beating Team New Zealand in a hugely successful event in the Spanish port of Valencia in July./ppBut the 33rd edition of the race was indefinitely postponed because of a legal dispute between Alinghi and US syndicate Oracle over the rules./ppTeam New Zealand said it has also filed a second case in a Federal Court under US anti-trust laws./ppThat suit claims Alinghi has acted to stifle competition for the Cup and for the right that goes with it of conducting future events by accepting the Spanish syndicate Desafio as its challenger of record, thereby enabling it to impose rules for the next event that were competely one-sided./ppOracle last July filed a lawsuit in the US against Alinghi's decision to name Desafio as its official challenger of record, which gave it the right to negotiate the format of the America's Cup with the Swiss syndicate./ppIn November, a New York court ruled in favour of Oracle and said the US team should be Alinghi's challenger of record./ppBertarelli had the chance to accept a reasonable proposal from Oracle, which was also signed by the majority of the challengers, and which would have allowed the America's Cup to be held in 2009, Dalton said. He would not do so./ppAlinghi said it was disappointed by the action by Team New Zealand, given their previous public acceptance and commitment to the competition./ppThese actions are totally without merit, wildly miss the target and will be defended rigorously, Lucien Masmejan, Alinghi's legal counsel, said in a statement./ppWe share the sailing community's frustration in the delays affecting the America's Cup but Alinghi, as trustee, is duty bound to defend its position in the current legal action and to preserve the integrity of the America's Cup./ppThe format of the 33rd America's Cup challenge is still subject to an imminent ruling by the New York court, with a multihull duel between Alinghi and Oracle seen as the most likely outcome, rather than a regatta involving several teams./ppThe two teams have begun training in catamarans in Valencia in preparation for such an event./ppThe delay in staging the next America's Cup is harming every challenging syndicate as they have to stretch budgets for a two-year campaign over three or perhaps four years, Dalton said./p |
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Court Skeptical of Passenger Rights Law
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2008/03/06 04:57
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| A federal appeals panel seemed impatient Wednesday with arguments supporting the first law in the nation requiring airlines to provide food, water, clean toilets and fresh air to passengers trapped in a plane delayed on the ground.pThe three judges expressed skepticism that states should be allowed to impose such a law on an industry already subject to extensive federal oversight. It was likely, they implied through their questions, that federal authority would pre-empt state laws on the issue./ppNew York's law requires relief for people who have been trapped in a plane on the ground for at least three hours. It was passed after passengers at Kennedy International Airport were stranded on planes for more than 10 hours with no food and overflowing toilets./ppThe court did not immediately rule on the constitutionality of New York's Airline Passenger Bill of Rights./ppThe judges said they were sympathetic to the needs of passengers on planes, but they seemed to agree that only the federal government can regulate airline services./ppJudge Brian M. Cogan said New York's law might lead to multiple solutions by states nationwide that would subject airlines to all kinds of requirements./ppJudge Debra Ann Livingston agreed./ppThere is a patchwork problem in that every state should be concerned about this and probably would write different regulations, she said./ppEven though the judges had not yet ruled, Judge Richard C. Wesley defended their apparent stance./ppThis is a pre-emption issue. Judges aren't heartless people in black robes. Three judges must decide whether New York stepped over the pre-emption line, Wesley said./ppThe law was challenged before the appeals court by the Air Transport Association of America, the industry trade group representing leading U.S. airlines./ppSeth Waxman, a lawyer for the trade group, told the judges that a dozen other states were considering laws similar to New York's law. He said Congress was considering its own legislation./ppIf regulation is required in this area, it must be national to avoid what otherwise is a patchwork solution, Waxman said./ppBarbara Underwood, arguing in defense of the law, said it required minimal standards and protected the public./ppShe said planes in line for takeoff might, after three hours, be forced to return to the gate to pick up more food and water and empty its restrooms or need to summon a delivery service to perform those chores./ppA recent federal report showed that about 24 percent of flights nationally arrived late in the first 10 months of last year, which was the industry's second-worst performance record since comparable data began being collected in 1995./ppKennedy airport had the third-worst on-time arrival record of any major U.S. airport through October, behind the New York area's other two major airports, LaGuardia and Newark, according to the report./ppWesley called it a health and safety issue./ppWhat it really is about is human dignity, Underwood said./ppQueens Assemblyman Michael Gianaris, a Democrat, the prime sponsor of New York's Airline Passenger Bill of Rights, said after the arguments that he was not discouraged by the questions posed by the judges. He said he would welcome a national law protecting airline customers./ppI'm hopeful the judges will preserve the law, he said./p |
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