The Madras High Court on November 7th  directed Zydus Cadila (Cadila Healthcare) not to sell its anti-depressant drug, Venz (venlafaxine), in the domestic market for the time being. Sun Pharmaceutical industries had filed a trademark complaint against Zydus’s new drug Venz, due to its confusing similarity with its brand Veniz.

Veniz is one of Sun pharma’s largest selling medicines.  The injunction on Zydus has been issued without hearing it and is an interim one. The next hearing on the issue is scheduled next month, sources said.

Cadila Healthcare had lost a trademark case for the use of its brand name, Mexate (methotraxate), against Wallace Pharmaceuticals in a similar case a few months earlier.

Such trademarks are common between pharmaceutical companies, thousands of such cases are pending before various courts and the Intellectual Appellate Tribunal Board (IPAB) in Chennai.

The domestic drug market is flooded with over 35,000 brands from more than 3,000 companies, this leaves ample scope of trademark related disputes.

Zydus Cadila’s formulations business in India had posted a growth of 10 per cent during the quarter ended September 30, thanks to the launch of 14 new products, including Venz.

Both the drugs are the generic or copycat version of innovator multinational drug company Wyeth’s brand, Effexor. Wyeth’s US patent on venlafaxine, the key ingredient in the drug, had expired last year.

Interestingly, Sun Pharma was not sued by Wyeth when it challenged the patents of an extended version of this drug in the US. However, Mumbai drug maker, Lupin, was sued by Wyeth for infringing the patents.