Merck & Co. (NYSE: MRK) last week sued Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (Nasdaq: TEVA; TASE: TEVA) to prevent it from selling a generic version of the cholesterol drug Vytorin in the US.
Teva has filed an Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its generic version of Vytorin. Merck claims that the drug is protected by two patents, one of which expires in 2014 and the other in 2017. Merck is suing for infringement of these two patents.
Merck has aid that Vytorin had $2.1 billion in world sales in 2009. Merck acquired the rights to the drug when it acquired Shering Plough for $41 billion last year.
New Jersey-based Merck filed the lawsuit with the US District Court of New Jersey. Teva is familiar with this court; it is where numerous patent litigation suits have been filed against it, as Teva often launches at risk generic drugs.
Teva's share closed at $61.66 on Nasdaq on Friday. The share price rose 0.6% in morning trading on the TASE today to NIS 232.30.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 7, 2010
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