NEW YORK, Aug. 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Forest Laboratories, Inc.
(NYSE: FRX), announced today that it had received notification from IVAX
Pharmaceuticals, Inc. that it has filed an Abbreviated New Drug Application
(ANDA) with a Paragraph IV Certification for a generic equivalent to
Lexapro(TM).
Howard Solomon, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer said: "We believe our
patents on Lexapro are valid and strong patents and we therefore do not expect
a generic product to be available until at least after the expiration of our
substance patent, including patent extension, which will be in 2011. The
early filing of ANDAs against well patented products by generic companies has
become standard practice, principally to obtain priority generic approval when
the controlling patents do expire."