Drugs giant AstraZeneca has reported that the Federal Court of Australia has found three patents protecting the company's Crestor treatment to be invalid, after they were challenged by several pharmaceutical firms.

The court's decision only affects the patent in Australia and does not have an impact on the validity of patents related to Crestor in any other country.

Total sales of Crestor in Australia for 2012 were approximately $350m.

In a statement the group said: "AstraZeneca is disappointed in the court's decision to find these patents invalid. The company remains committed to defending its intellectual property protecting Crestor in Australia and is carefully reviewing this decision and evaluating all legal options at this time, which could include filing an appeal and seeking to maintain existing preliminary injunctions."

Of the patents, one was a formulation patent, the second was related to the use of rosuvastatin for treating heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (high cholesterol), and the third was related to the use of rosuvastatin for treating hypercholesterolemia.

The share price was up 0.47% to 3,022p by 09:05.

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