The US District Court for the Southern District of New York has dismissed a motion for summary judgment on Copaxone filed by Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (Nasdaq: TEVA; TASE: TEVA). Teva filed the motion for a summary judgment finding of no inequitable conduct as part of its lawsuit to block efforts by Mylan Inc. (Nasdaq: MYL) its develop a generic version of Teva's brand drug Copaxone for the treatment of multiple sclerosis.
The court also set a start date of July 11, for the trial on Mylan's inequitable conduct affirmative defense. The trial on the remaining issues will begin on September 7.
Teva is suing Mylan, Momenta Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq: MNTA), Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS; LSE: NOV; SWX: NOVZ) unit Sandoz, and India's Natco Pharma Ltd. for patent infringement of Copaxone. Copaxone has $3 billion in annual sales. The defendants claim that Teva's conduct in registering the patents is inequitable and that it is attempting to win summary judgments.
Teva is also involved in legal proceedings against Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NYSE: WPI), which wants to launch a generic version of the contraceptive Seasonique, produced by Duramed Pharmaceuticals Inc, a unit of Teva subsidiary Barr Pharmaceuticals, and marketed by Teva Women's Health. On Friday, an appeals court issued a preliminary injunction that prevents Watson from selling generic Seasonique until the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington rules on whether sales should be halted further until it rules on a separate appeal by Duramed unit to block Watson’s generic version. Watson has until July 1 to respond.
Teva's share price fell 3.5% on Thursday and Friday on Nasdaq to $47.49, giving a market cap of $41.4 billion, and fell 4.4% by early afternoon on the TASE today to NIS 163.10.
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