Pfizer Delays Generic Lipitor Release Until 2011

Pfizer Inc. and India's Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd. agreed to keep copies of the cholesterol pill Lipitor off the U.S. market an extra 20 months, a move that may generate an added $12 billion for the U.S. drugmaker.

Under a lawsuit settlement, Ranbaxy won't sell generic versions of Lipitor, the world's best-selling drug, until November 2011, New York-based Pfizer said today in a statement. Analysts had projected Ranbaxy would enter the market in March 2010, when the main patent expires, while Pfizer was using litigation to delay competition until 2016.

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