PARIS, Sept. 29 (Xinhuanet) -- The French Sanofi-Aventis group said on Thursday a US District Court in New Jersey had set a hearing for Oct. 27 on a motion to block generic drug companies from selling a copycat version of the company's Allegra allergy drug.

    Sanofi, the world's 3rd largest pharmaceutical company and number one in Europe, filed the motion with Albany Molecular Research, Inc. for a preliminary injunction filed against Barr Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., Ranbaxy Laboratories, Ltd., and Amino Chemicals, Ltd.

    The motion requests a court order preventing the defendants from marketing unlicensed generic versions of Allegra.

    Albany Molecular earns royalties from worldwide sales of Allegra for patents related to the drug's active ingredient, fexofenadine. The drug has been one of Sanofi-Aventis' biggest selling products with annual sales of 1.4 billion dollars. Enditem