
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, August 10, 1993                   TAG: 9308100245
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY, N.C.                                LENGTH: Short

COMPANIES BATTLE OVER ULCER DRUG

Attorneys for Glaxo Inc. defended the drug company's rights to the world's best-selling prescription drug as a patent infringement trial got under way in federal court Monday.

U.S. District Judge Terrence Boyle heard testimony about atoms, molecules and the chemical structure of the ulcer-treatment drug Zantac. Glaxo is being sued by Canadian drug maker Novopharm Ltd, which wants to manufacture a cheaper generic form of the drug.

Zantac's 1992 sales totaled $3.2 billion worldwide.

Novopharm contends that a second patent issued on Zantac, set to expire in 2002, is invalid because the patented formula too closely resembles the first patent that will expire in 1995.

- Associated Press

by CNB