REPOST: Teva, Sun Pharma to pay $2.15 bln to settle Pfizer patent suit

Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd settles a lawsuit against Pfizer and Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd, says this article.
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Pfizer Inc said Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd would pay $2.15 billion to settle a patent infringement lawsuit related to its acid-reflux drug Protonix.

Japan's Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd, Pfizer's partner on the drug, will receive 36 percent or about $774 million from the settlement.

Pfizer won a protracted 10-year legal battle in April 2010 when a New Jersey jury ruled that Teva had infringed the Protonix patent. Teva started selling a generic version of the drug in 2007.

A trial to determine damages began on Monday.

The patent was held by Nycomed - now a Takeda subsidiary. Protonix was licensed to Wyeth, which is now owned by Pfizer.

Israel-based Teva, the world's largest generic drugmaker, will pay $1.6 billion - half this year and the rest by October 2014. India's Sun Pharma will pay $550 million this year.

Teva said in February that it may face legal losses of up to $2.07 billion to resolve the case.

Sun Pharma set aside 5.84 billion rupees, or about $100 million, last November towards potential damages to Pfizer. The company will now have to shell out a further $450 million as final settlement.

"This is not a very positive out-of-court settlement. The agreed amount is way too high for such a settlement," said Daljeet Kohli, head of research at brokerage IndiaNivesh in Mumbai. "It will also restrict Sun's ability to look for acquisitions."

Pfizer's shares were up about 1 percent at $28.66 before the bell, while Teva's U.S.-listed shares were down about 1 percent at $39.51.

Sun Pharma closed little changed at 980.70 rupees, while Takeda's stock closed down 1.4 percent at 4,355 yen.

($1 = 58.4950 Indian rupees)

Evan Granowitz is a civil litigator who was named a Super Lawyers Rising Star in 2009, 2010, and 2011. Visit this website for more information about him and his practice areas.

Legal assistance: Analyzing the disconnect between cost and need

Working as a lawyer is one of the most respected careers today. Companies need lawyers to handle their legal transactions as much as appellants come to these professionals for much-needed legal guidance. Yet amidst this prestige, the said line of work is still far from perfect.

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This is what the American Bar Association believes, asserting that the legal education system is facing what one may call an existential crisis. This can be observed in how law school applications significantly dropped, arguably resulting from not only the expensive tuition (which eventually yields to student debts), but also the difficulty of finding employment after graduation.

The lack of employment opportunities for law graduates is rooted from a harsh truth: in financial crises, clients avoid paying higher rates for lawyers or avoid hiring lawyers altogether.

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There are ways to resolve this problem, as suggested by John Farmer of The New York Times. He recommends that an entry level period of practice be enforced upon new graduates, under experienced supervision and at reduced hourly rates.

These reduced rates will hopefully encourage clients to hire more young lawyers, testing out what the new generation of legal specialists can offer them. In this manner, the growing need for legal representation can be satiated whilst providing law graduates not only with the job they studied and worked hard for, but also with the chance to shine in their chosen field.

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