17 December 2012Americas

University sues Virtus Pharmaceuticals for patent infringement

The University of Wisconsin’s alumni research foundation (WARF) is suing Florida-based Virtus Pharmaceuticals for selling a calcium supplement it claims knowingly breaches one of its patents.

In a complaint filed on December 12 at the US District Court of Wisconsin, WARF claims that Virtus knowingly infringed its ‘542 patent covering calcium formate supplements by marketing, selling and distributing a product prescribed to pregnant women called V-Natal Tabs.

WARF alleges that the product, designed to improve patients’ calcium balance or retention, replicates the label of a similar product, Nestabs, which is made by a sub-licensee of the ‘542 patent, Women’s Choice Pharmaceuticals.

The V Natal Tabs label, says WARF, lists the same 14 active ingredients as the Nestabs label and has therefore been prescribed as alternative to the Women’s Choice product. WARF claims Virtus has been aware of the ‘542 patent since August 2012, and has had express notice of it since December 10.

In its complaint, WARF claims Virtus “disregarded an objectively high likelihood that the making, using, selling and or offering to sell the V-Natal product would infringe one or more claims of the ‘542 patent,” and that its infringement “has and will continue to be wilful, deliberate and intentional.”

WARF is demanding a jury trial and is seeking damages and legal costs. Neither party responded immediately to requests for comment.