Ratiopharm Inc. v. Canada (Attorney General), 2014 FC 502
Justice O'Reilly - 2014-05-27
Read full decision. Automatically generated summary:
Ratiopharm sells generic drugs in Canada, including an anti-asthmatic medicine called ratio-salbutamol HFA. Ratio HFA is the generic equivalent of Ventolin HFA, a product manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline. Ratiopharm sold ratio HFA to pharmacies after having purchased it under contract from GSK. The two products competed against one another and other similar products in the Canadian market. Under the contract with Ratiopharm, GSK retained all patent rights to its product. In my view, taking into account the federal/provincial division of powers, and interpreting the scope of the Act accordingly, Ratiopharm is not a "patentee". Therefore, the Board had no jurisdiction over its sales of ratio HF A and I must allow all three of Ratiopharm's applications for judicial review.
Decision relates to:
- T-1058-11 - ratiopharm Inc. (now TEVA CANADA LIMITED) v. ATTORNEY GENERAL OF CANADA
- T-1252-11 - RATIOPHARM INC. ET AL v. AGC
- A-303-14(2015 FCA 249) - which is an appeal from this decision
- T-1825-11 - RATIONPHARM INC. v. ATTORNEY GENERAL OF CANADA