The Court determined that AstraZeneca's formulation patent was obvious and lacked inventive step. The court has not yet determined Alphapharm's counter-appeal on infringement and other validity issues on which AstraZeneca was successful at first instance.

"We will seek to appeal against this judgement since we are confident that the patent is not obvious and has sufficient inventive step" said Dr.Martin Nicklasson, Executive Vice President and Head of AstraZeneca's Gastrointestinal Franchise.

The substance patent for Losec® began expiring in the first countries last year (1999). The substance patent expired in Australia on April 11, 1999. Sales of Losec® in Australia in 1999 amounted to approximately USD 100m, which is under 2 per cent of the total sales of the product.

In most countries AstraZeneca has been granted Patent Term Extensions or Supplementary Patent Certificates (SPCs). This extended coverage for the patent is valid in the USA until 2001, in most European countries until 2002-2004, and in Japan until 2004. Losec® is also protected by patents directed to formulation, uses, intermediates and processes.