Teva, Mylan Anchen Win Patent Ruling in Muscle-Relaxant Amrix Lawsuit

May 14, 2011Business Exchange Buzz up! Digg Print Email Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (TEVA), Mylan Inc. and Anchen Pharmaceuticals Inc. won a judge's ruling over their planned generic version of the muscle-relaxant Amrix. Cephalon Inc. (CEPH) and Eurand NV (EURX) sued for patent-infringement in 2008 in federal court in Delaware. U.S. District Judge Sue Robinson decided yesterday that while Teva's Barr Pharmaceuticals unit, Mylan and Anchen infringed two patents for the formulation, the patents aren't valid because the technology would be obvious to a skilled chemist. "Cephalon is reviewing the court's opinion and is evaluating its options, including an appeal," the company said today in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing. Teva, the world's largest generic-drug maker, said on May 2 it agreed to buy Cephalon for about $6.2 billion. The lawsuit was filed after the generic-drug makers applied to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for permission to make low-cost copies of Amrix. The companies conceded that their version of the formula infringed and claimed the patents weren't valid. Scientists "would have been motivated to take a group of known elements to create an extended release version" of the drug, and "to have a reasonable expectation of success," Robinson wrote in her 42-page opinion. "Therefore the invention was obvious."

Depositary Receipts Teva U.S. spokeswoman Denise Bradley in North Wales, Pennsylvania, said the company would have no comment.  Officials of Canonsburg, Pennsylvania-based Mylan, as well as John Mooney, representing Anchen in Irvine, California, and Sandra Tremblay, a spokeswoman for Mont-Saint-Hilaire, Canada- based Aptalis, successor to Eurand, didn't immediately return voice or e-mail messages seeking comment on the decision.  American depositary receipts of Petach Tikva, Israel-based Teva, each representing one ordinary share, fell 13 cents to $49.67 at 4:29 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. Cephalon, based in Frazer, Pennsylvania, fell 5 cents to $79.70, and Mylan was unchanged at $24.09 on the Nasdaq.  The case is Cyclobenzaprine Hydrochloride Patent Litigation, 09-2118, U.S. District Court, District of Delaware (Wilmington).  To see the patents, click: 7,387,793, 7,544,372.