Hospira Receives Favorable Court Decision on E...( -- Has Tentative FDA Approval and Exp...)

-- Has Tentative FDA Approval and Expects Final Approval Shortly --

LAKE FOREST, Ill., June 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Hospira, Inc. (NYSE: HSP), the world leader in generic injectable pharmaceuticals, today announced that the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey has granted summary judgment of non-infringement in Hospira's favor with regard to Sanofi Aventis' chemotherapy medication Eloxatin(R), and that Hospira has tentative approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its generic version of the product. Hospira expects full FDA approval shortly.

Hospira's version of Eloxatin, which goes by the generic name oxaliplatin injection, will be one of the first generic versions available in the United States to come in solution form. U.S. sales of Eloxatin last year were approximately $1.4 billion.

"We are extremely pleased with the court's ruling," said Joshua Gordon, vice president, Specialty Pharmaceuticals, Hospira. "The launch of Hospira's oxaliplatin injection will provide a high-quality, lower-cost alternative to patients, and is another example of Hospira working to meet patient and caregiver needs in the fast-growing oncology market."

Hospira's specialty injectable pharmaceuticals (SIP) offering includes approximately 200 generic injectable drugs in many dosages and formulations. In addition, many of its products are available in popular differentiated formats, several of which are proprietary, such as its ADD-Vantage Drug Delivery System and iSecure(R) prefilled syringes. Therapeutic segments include anesthesia, anti-infectives, analgesics, cardiovascular, oncology, emergency and other areas. Hospira has approximately 25 generic drugs scheduled to launch in various regions around the world in 2009 and 2010.

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