Oslo Appeals Court Upholds Ruling in Favor of Slovenia's Krka in Losartan Patent Lawsuit

The lower court had also awarded damages to the Slovenian drug maker.

"[Krka] received [on September 15] the decision of the Court of Appeal in Oslo, Norway in the dispute between the companies Merck & Co. Inc. and its affiliates Merck and Company, Incorporated, Merck Sharp & Dohme BV, MSD Norge A/S (hereinafter MSD) and Krka, d.d., Novo mesto and its affiliate Krka Sverige AB (hereinafter Krka), concerning an alleged infringement of a patent protecting production of losartan ingredient in Norway," the Slovenian company said in a filing with the Ljubljana Stock Exchange (LJSE) on Wednesday.

"The Court of Appeal confirmed the decision of the court of first instance that Krka does not infringe the stated patent. Based on the stated decision of the court of first instance MSD is obliged to restitute damages to KRKA arising out of the issued preliminary injunction prohibiting sales of Krka's products with losartan ingredient in Norway throughout the duration of the dispute, in the amount of NOK 30 million (approximately EUR 3.5 million) together with default interest and all costs of the proceedings in the amount of NOK 2.3 million (approximately EUR 267 thousand)," the statement said.

MSD can appeal against this judgement to the Supreme Court of Norway, Krka said.

Krka published the announcement considering the judgement of the court of first instance on June 26, 2008.

Losartan is used mainly to treat high blood pressure.

Shares in Krka were trading up 0.33% at an average price of 72.46 euro ($106.8) by 1118 GMT on Thursday on the LJSE.

($=0.6784 euro)