Shares in Tamir Capital are soaring on lively volumes, following a Tel Aviv District Court ruling that Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE: TEVA; TASE: TEVA) infringed the terms of a license from Proneuron Biotechnologies, and that the intellectual property rights should be restored to Proneuron immediately. Teva was also ordered to pay costs of NIS 500,000.
The judge found that "Teva made a mistaken professional decision and embarked on an efficacy trial that was not well planned, since it ought to have given greater weight to the pre-clinical findings and to have examined their significance further before starting a clinical trial."
Tamir Capital chairman Eldad Tamir and its CEO Mike Elias said, "The management of Tamir Fishman Venture Capital II is gratified by the court ruling. Proneuron has very valuable intellectual property and know-how."
In 2004, the Tamir Fishman Venture Capital II fund invested in Proneuron. The company developed unique technology for treating diseases of the brain and nervous system such as Alzheimer's, ALS, and others, and obtained exclusive rights from the Weizmann Institute for the use of Copaxone for these diseases. Proneuron signed an agreement with Teva under which Teva undertook to carry out clinical trials on the basis of Proneuron's technology and to commercialize Copaxone as a treatment for these diseases.
In April 2007, Proneuron sued Teva in the Tel Aviv District Court over a clinical trial that Teva had conducted on ALS patients. Proneuron claimed that Teva carried out the trial in disregard of its contractual obligations to Proneuron and of the pre-clinical findings available to it that indicated that the clinical trial lacked a scientific basis, was doomed to failure, and could potentially reduce life expectancy.
Tamir Capital's share price is currently up by nearly 100%.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on April 28, 2015
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