Teva sues AstraZeneca over Crestor

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., the world's biggest maker of generic drugs, sued AstraZeneca Plc, claiming its cholesterol drug Crestor violates a U.S. patent.

Crestor infringes one or more claims of a patent that was reissued to Teva on March 6, 2007, lawyers for the company said in a complaint filed yesterday in federal court in Philadelphia.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., an Israeli company with North American headquarters in North Wales, employs 1,500 at four locations in the Philadelphia suburbs.

AstraZeneca, which is based in London, also has a U.S. presence, employing about 4,600 in Wilmington.

The case is Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. v. AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP, 08-4786, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia).    - Bloomberg News