Such copycat competitors are also on the horizon for Glucophage and BuSpar, an anxiety drug.
Meanwhile, generic drugmaker Watson Pharmaceuticals has filed its own suit against Bristol-Myers over BuSpar.
Generic competition on cancer treatment Taxol and anti-anxiety drug BuSpar is already dragging on sales.
Since antianxiety medicine BuSpar went off-patent in April, for instance, sales of the drug have dropped 54%.
It is unlikely that the low dose of Buspar (generic: buspirone) you are taking is of much benefit.
Glucophage, part of Bristol's lucrative diabetes franchise, and BuSpar, an anxiety drug, will suffer the same fate this year.
The generic drug company had accused Bristol of illegally attempting to extend its patent on BuSpar, an anti-anxiety medication.
Bristol-Myers Squibb has been hurt by competition from generic substitutes for proprietary drugs like Glucophage (diabetes medication), Taxol (cancer treatment) and BuSpar (antidepressant).
Bristol-Myers' attempts to extend BuSpar's patent life was one example.
In 2000 Bristol-Myers won a four-month extension for its BuSpar anxiety drug by obtaining--only hours before the main patent was to expire--a new patent on how the drug is metabolized.
Bristol-Myers Squibb was handed a defeat in a patent lawsuit, which will allow generic drugmaker Mylan Laboratories (nyse: MYL - news - people) to make a lower-cost version of BuSpar, Bristol's fifth best-selling drug.
It could still take some time before it is perfectly clear how Bristol has been doing these past few years, when it was buffeted by patent expirations of top-selling products such as cancer drug Taxol and anxiety medication BuSpar.
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