DUSA Pharmaceuticals Inc (Wilmington, Mass) announced that the US District Court in Trenton, NJ, has issued a preliminary injunction against River's Edge Pharmaceuticals LLC (Suwanee, Ga), prohibiting it from selling the generic version of DUSA's acne drug Nicomide (niacinamide). DUSA, a dermatology specialty pharmaceutical company, reported that the court has ordered River's Edge to stop importing, making, having made, using, selling, and/or offering to sell its niacinamide formula drug as a generic substitute for

Nicomide and to immediately recall the product. The court also has ordered River's Edge to remove the listing of its product as a substitute from the National Drug Data File maintained by First DataBank Inc and any similar database. Nicomide was among the main products acquired by DUSA when it merged with Sirius Laboratories Inc in March of this year. DUSA and Sirius Laboratories, now a wholly owned subsidiary, had sued River's Edge for infringing the patent related to Nicomide. The court had agreed in April 2006 to an expedited hearing of the motion for the preliminary injunction in the case brought by DUSA.

DUSA President and Chief Operating Officer Bob Doman commented, "The merger with Sirius successfully broadened the proprietary portfolio of products that we could offer to dermatologists and other clinicians. Since then, our newly expanded sales organization has been actively promoting Nicomide."