A federal appeals court ruled for Sanofi-Aventis SA (SNY) 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.

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