The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has reissued a patent to the pharmaceutical company Barr Laboratories for its extended-cycle oral contraceptive Seasonale, the company said Tuesday, the AP/Yahoo! Finance reports. The patent expires June 23, 2017 (AP/Yahoo! Finance, 9/25).

FDA approved Seasonale, which allows users to reduce their number of annual menstrual periods from 13 to four, in September 2003. Women take 84 active pills consecutively and then take seven placebo pills, compared with the usual regimen of 21 active pills followed by seven placebos. The patent office in May denied Barr's request to reissue the Seasonale patent. Barr subsidiary Duramed Pharmaceuticals received a nonfinal rejection notice from the patent office that gave the company three months to reply to issues raised by the government before the company's three-year product exclusivity expired on Sept. 5 (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 9/8/06).

"We are pleased that the PTO has reissued our patent protecting Seasonale extended-cycle oral contraceptive," Bruce Downey, Barr's chair and CEO, said, adding, "The reissued patent confirms our position that we have the exclusive right to market Seasonale" (Barr release, 9/25).