AZ loses rounds in Crestor, Nexium fights

Judges on both sides of the Atlantic ruled against AstraZeneca's bids to block generic rivals for two of its three top-selling blockbusters.

AstraZeneca ($AZN) had a rough day in court. Judges on both sides of the Atlantic ruled against its bids to block generic rivals for two of its three top-selling blockbusters. In the U.S., a federal judge rejected the company's method-of-use patents on the cholesterol drug Crestor; in Denmark, a court stiff-armed its motion to ban a Slovenian drugmaker from selling a copy of the stomach-acid drug Nexium.

As Bloomberg points out, the ruling from U.S. District Judge Robert Kugler could lop six years off Crestor's patent life, which would put a serious crimp on AstraZeneca's sales (the drug is protected by a separate patent till 2016). Last year, Crestor pulled in about $4.5 billion globally, about 14 percent of AZ's total revenue, making it the company's third-biggest product. On the other hand, the new ruling could be a boon to the likes of Mylan, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals and a half-dozen other generics makers.

Meanwhile, in norther