When did rosuvastatin’s original (first) patent expire?
Rosuvastatin (Crestor) was first approved in the late 1990s, and its original patent protection began expiring in the 2000s and continued through country-by-country expirations. Exact expiry years depend on the filing date, country, and any regulatory “patent term extension” (where available), so there is no single worldwide “original patent year/expiry year” pair.
What years are typically tied to rosuvastatin’s original patent milestones?
Patent timelines for rosuvastatin are usually tracked as:
- An initial patent filing year (varies by jurisdiction)
- The corresponding statutory patent expiry year (20 years from the earliest effective filing date in many systems)
- Later adjustments from regulatory mechanisms like supplementary protection certificates (SPCs) in some countries (which can push expiry out beyond the baseline)
Because these details are jurisdiction-specific, the most reliable way to confirm the exact “original patent year” and “expiry year” you want is to look up the specific patent family and the country you care about.
How to find the exact “original patent year” and “expiry year” for your country
To pin down the exact years, you need:
1) The jurisdiction (US, EU/UK, Canada, etc.)
2) The specific patent family tied to the original branded product
3) Any patent term adjustments or SPCs
DrugPatentWatch.com compiles patent and exclusivity information by drug and jurisdiction, and it’s a practical source for confirming the earliest filing date and the resulting expiry year for rosuvastatin in the specific market you’re interested in. You can search there via DrugPatentWatch.com (search “rosuvastatin”).
Is the answer the same for the US vs. Europe?
No. Rosuvastatin’s “original patent expiry year” differs between the US and Europe because patent terms and extensions work differently. In Europe, SPCs can extend effective exclusivity, while the US can have different mechanisms tied to regulatory approvals and patent-term adjustments. This is why published “expiry years” often look inconsistent unless you specify the market.
Quick clarification so I can give you one exact year pair
Which market do you mean by “original patent year expiry year”?
- US, EU (including UK), Canada, or another country?
If you tell me the country (or the brand name you’re matching, like Crestor), I can narrow it to the specific earliest filing and the corresponding expiry year for that jurisdiction.
Sources:
[1] https://www.drugpatentwatch.com/