Novo Nordisk, in filing suit in U.S. district court in New York, said that Pfizer "willfully infringed" on the patents and that it's seeking compensatory damages.
Novo Nordisk also said it plans to file a motion for preliminary injunction to prohibit Pfizer from "continuing its unlawful conduct" while the lawsuit's in progress.
Pfizer didn't immediately return a call seeking comment.
Earlier this year, the Food and Drug Administration approved Exubera, co-developed by Pfizer and Nektar Therapeutics (NKTR), as the first inhaled insulin product for the U.S. market.
For its part, Novo Nordisk has an inhaled insulin product in Phase III development called AERx. The development program is expected to be complete in 2009.
"Intellectual property in our industry is key to making advances," John Shehan, Novo Nordisk's general counsel, told MarketWatch. "If we don't have protection we couldn't develop breakthrough properties."
Separately, Novo Nordisk reported a 20% jump in sales for the first half of 2006, as sales of insulin analogs rose 59%.
The company's six-month sales in North America rose 31%, while international sales jumped 41%. Net profit was flat at $486 million, the company said.
Novo also raised its forecast for the year, saying it now expects 13% to 15% sales growth, up from a range of 11% to 13% growth previously. Operating profit's expected to grow by about 13%, up from the previous expectation of slightly more than 10%.
U.S.-listed shares of Novo Nordisk were up 6.8% at $67.02 in midday trading, while blue chip Pfizer slipped 1.5% to $25.61.
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