Lundbeck Canada Inc. v. Cobalt Pharmaceuticals Inc. (now Actavis)

Proceedings to prohibit the Minister of Health from issuing a notice of compliance which would allow the sale, by Cobalt, of a generic version of escitalopram, a drug used in the treatment of depression, until the expiry of Canadian patent no 1,339,452. The patent at issue covers escitalopram itself, an enantiomer of citalopram. The application of Lundbeck was granted on February 12, 2009. The appeal of Genpharm was dismissed on November 25, 2010. The motion of Cobalt for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada was dismissed on August 25, 2011. Lundbeck was advised in these proceedings by a team from Fasken Martineau that included Marie Lafleur, Julie Desrosiers and Christian Leblanc. For more information, see (2009) FC 146, (2010) FCA 320 and (2011) SCCA No 32.