Pfizer has settled a legal tussle in Britain with Teva and other generic drugmakers looking to sell copies of its top-selling cholesterol drug Lipitor, keeping generics off the market until May 2012.

The US drugmaker's British unit said the companies had agreed not to sell Teva's version of the medicine, which is known generically as atorvastatin, before the British patent expiry in May 2012.

Other firms involved in the settlement are Phoenix Healthcare Distribution, Barclay Pharmaceuticals, AAH Pharmaceuticals, L Rowland & Co and Day Lewis.

Lipitor, the world's biggest-selling drug, had second quarter global sales of $2.6 billion, including $1.4 billion in the United States, where the first generic could be launched at the end of next month.

Reuters