Zyprexa

Shares in AstraZeneca Plc and Sanofi-Aventis SA led the European sector higher in morning trade, with gains of more than 2 percent.

Industry analysts said AstraZeneca was the most obvious European winner from the ruling on Lipitor, which is expected to have worldwide sales of around $12 billion this year.

The Anglo-Swedish company's rival cholesterol medicine Crestor could have suffered if Pfizer had lost, since that would have allowed in inexpensive generic drugs and triggered a price war in the all-important U.S.

marketplace.

Crestor sales have been slower to ramp up than AstraZeneca had originally hoped but the product remains a key driver for the business, raking in worldwide revenues of $325 million in the third quarter.

Sanofi is not directly involved in the cholesterol market but it was boosted by hopes that the ruling augured well for its own court fight over top-selling blood thinner Plavix, which it sells with Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.

(Research).

Plavix is the world's fourth-biggest drug by sales, with annual sales of more than $5 billion.

Merrill Lynch analysts said loss of exclusivity on the world's largest-selling drug, sold by the world's biggest pharmaceuticals company, would have dealt a major blow to the industry as a whole.

In fact the ruling t...

Shares of AstraZeneca Plc, which is facing patent challenges to its Nexium ulcer drug and Seroquel for schizophrenia, rose as much as 4.3 percent.

Shares of Paris-based Sanofi-Aventis SA, which is facing patent lawsuits over its two best-selling medicines, rose 3.1 percent.

The case is Pfizer Inc.

v.

Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd., 03cv209, U.S.

District Court, District of Delaware (Wilmington).

To contact the reporters on this story: Nicole Ostrow in New York at nostrow@bloomberg.net; Phil Milford in Wilmington, Delaware, at pmilford@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: December 19, 2005 04:05 EST ©2005 Bloomberg L.P.

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I worry that his pills are hurting more than helping.

A: Combining a sedative like diazepam (Valium) with an anti-psychotic such as Such a combination also could increase his risk of a fall.

Please ask his doctor to review your husband's medications.

Q: My cardiologist tells me I must take aspirin for the rest of my life to prevent a heart attack or stroke.

He said to avoid ibuprofen and naproxen for pain relief.

Why?

A: Pain relievers like ibuprofen and naproxen may interfere with the anti-clotting action of aspirin (New England Journal of Medicine, Dec.

1, 2005).

In their column, Joe and Teresa Graedon answer letters from readers.

Write to them c/o King Features Syndicate, 888 Seventh Ave., New York, NY 10019, or via their Web site: www.peoplespharmacy.com Copyright © 2005 The Seattle Times Company E-mail article Print view More health headlines...

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