2nd UPDATE: Bayer Files Infringement Suit Vs Teva On Generic
01 Juin 2010 - 8:54PM
Dow Jones News
Bayer Schering Pharma AG said Tuesday that it filed an
infringement suit against Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.
(TEVA), which has launched a generic version of Bayer's YAZ birth
control drug in the U.S.
"We've filed an infringement suit in the U.S. state of
Delaware," a spokesman for Bayer Schering Pharma told Dow Jones
Newswires.
"We believe [the generic drug] constitutes an act of
infringement on intellectual property," the spokesman for Bayer
Schering Pharma had said earlier, adding "We will defend
ourselves."
In a press release, Teva said earlier Tuesday it has
commercially launched Gianvi, a generic version of YAZ. The company
said it has the right to launch an authorized generic version of
YAZ supplied by Bayer in July 2011. Teva was not immediately
available for further comment.
Bayer Schering Pharma is the pharmaceutical division of
Germany's Bayer AG (BAYN.XE). The total sales of YAZ tablets in the
U.S. were about $782 million in 2009, according to German research
group IMS data.
-By Sarah Sloat, Dow Jones Newswires; +49 69 29725521;
sarah.sloat@dowjones.com