Moscow, Jan 20: After a three-year long legal battle, a Russian arbitration court has ruled in favour of the Hyderabad-based Indian pharmaceutical company Dr Reddy's Laboratories in a patent row with the American Merck & Co.Three independent expert committees appointed by the court concluded that Dr Reddy's labs makes `enalapril maleate' for its registered drug `Enam' by an original process, different from the one protected by Merck.The court also ordered Merck, which went to court in March, 1997, to reimburse expenditures incurred by the Indian company for obtaining expert opinion in the case.
Dr Reddy's labs annually export $15 million worth of life-saving drugs to the Russian market and has set up a joint venture - Reddy Biomed Ltd - near Moscow which has a turnover of $12 million.
Executive director of Dr Reddy's Labs Ltd PV Venugopal said Indian drug firms have become a target of concerted campaign by American drug firms to squeeze them out of their traditional Russian market.
In Russian media and seminars and presentations organised for local practitioners, US firms openly propaganda against cheap Indian drugs as being of low quality, he said.
He said his company's anti-hypertensive drug sold for 65 cents per 20 tablets against $2.15 of Merck, making the former very attractive to Russian consumers.
Copyright © 2000 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.