U.S. court temporarily blocks a competitor to AstraZeneca’s Nexium

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A federal U.S. judge issued a temporary injunction against Hanmi Pharmaceutical Co Ltd on Friday, preventing the South Korean drugmaker from launching a close relative of AstraZeneca Plc’s Nexium stomach-acid drug in the United States. Judge Timothy Dyk of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit approved AstraZeneca’s request for the injunction on Friday. He ordered Hanmi to respond within a week and AstraZeneca to reply no later than September 24. …