2NDUPDATE: Sanofi-Aventis Settles Eloxatin Patent Lawsuit In US
01 Avril 2010 - 6:56PM
Dow Jones News
French drugmaker Sanofi-Aventis SA (SNY) on Thursday said it
settled a U.S. patent lawsuit over generic versions of its cancer
treatment Eloxatin with Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (TEVA),
Fresenius Kabi Oncology Ltd. (532545.BY), Novartis AG's (NVS)
generics unit Sandoz and Hospira Inc. (HSP).
Under the terms of the settlement, the four generic drugmakers
will stop selling their generic Eloxatin products June 30 and will
resume marketing them Aug. 9, 2012 under a license to re-enter the
market.
The other settlement terms remain confidential, Sanofi-Aventis
said, adding that all of the settlement provisions are subject to
contingencies which "could enhance, diminish or eliminate the value
of those settlements to the group."
Copycat versions of Eloxatin, whose generic name is oxaliplatin,
were launched last August in the U.S. after a court there in June
ruled that generic drugmakers who had challenged the Eloxatin
patent did not infringe Sanofi's patents. Thursday's announced deal
thus came as little surprise to sector observers.
Fiske analyst Peter Cartwright said, "it looks like another
pay-for-delay deal, but it's not clear who is paying what,"
referring to the lack of details on the agreement.
Still, as Eloxatin generated EUR957 million ($1.29 billion) in
sales last year -down 35% from 2008 - the settlement removing
generic versions until 2012 should be seen as good news by
investors.
Company Web site: www.sanofi-aventis.com
-By Elena Berton , Dow Jones Newswires . +33 1 40 17 17 65;
elena.berton@dowjones.com
(Sten Stovall contributed to this article.)