Sanofi-Aventis, et al. v. Apotex Inc., et al.

On October 30, the Supreme Court of Canada granted leave to appeal from the Federal Court of Appeal (FCA) decision in Apotex Inc. v. Sanofi-Aventis, et al, 2014 FCA 68.

Sanofi owned a series of patents for the drug Ramipril, the last of which were set to expire in 2005. In anticipation of the expiry, Apotex had received certain regulatory approvals from Health Canada in 2004; however, it did not receive its Notice of Compliance (NOC) until December 12, 2006. This was due to the fact that Sanofi exercised its rights under the PM (NOC) Regulations for a statutory stay of the issuance, which was later found unsustainable. Sanofi acknowledged that Apotex was entitled to damages for the delay but at issue were the relevant dates for computing the loss and the various assumptions and projections built into the assessment of damages.