Dr Reddy's countersues AstraZeneca over purple pill

The company has alleged that AstraZeneca 'knew' about its plans to use the same colour in the capsules

Dr Reddy's Laboratories, which is embroiled in a legal battle with AstraZeneca over the usage of purple colour for generic version of Nexium, has filed a complaint in a US court alleging that the latter "knew" about its plans to use the same colour in the capsules.

Sources said Dr Reddy's has filed the petition against the Anglo-Swedesh firm AstraZeneca (AZ) in the District Court of New Jersey days after the Indian company was temporarily restrained by a US court from using purple colour for its generic version of Esomeprazole in the US market.

"DRL has countersued AstraZeneca for two reasons. One, it has taken objection to the fact that they cannot use purple colour and how anybody can object for using certain colour and the second and the important contention is that they (AZ) were always in the know that DRL will be using purple colour for the generic version of Esomeprozole," sources told PTI.

On November 5, the US District Court of Delaware had issued the order based on a motion moved by AZ, objecting to the usage of the colour purple in the generic version of Nexium (Esomeprazole).

AstraZeneca argued that the purple pills (Prilosec and Nexium) have been famous for many years through extensive advertising both to doctors and patients, industry-leading commercial success, and extensive publicity, among other reasons.