A federal appeals court ruled for Sanofi-Aventis SA (SNY) on Thursday in a patent fight with generic drug companies that want to offer competing versions of Sanofi's colon cancer drug, Eloxatin.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit threw out a trial court ruling in favor of the generic competitors, saying the trial judge misconstrued Sanofi's patent claims.

The appeals court sent the case back for further proceedings.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (TEVA), Hospira Inc. (HSP) and Novartis AG's (NVS) Sandoz unit are among those seeking to offer generic versions of the Sanofi drug.

Shortly after winning at the trial-court level, Teva and Hospira began shipping their generic versions of Eloxatin.

Hospira spokesman Dan Rosenberg said Thursday that the appeals court ruling wouldn't affect his company's shipments.

"We're going to keep on shipping," Rosenberg said.

He said Hospira was disappointed in the ruling "but we remain committed to getting this important product to market."

Spokespeople for Sanofi, Teva and Sandoz didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.

-By Brent Kendall, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-9222; brent.kendall@dowjones.com