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.

Defending yourself from breach of contract lawsuit with an affirmative defense

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Saving yourself from a breach of contract lawsuit involves having several affirmative defenses. This blog article explains how you can get out of a contract by taking advantage of those defenses. The courts of California afford defendants with several defenses in breach of contract actions. Among these are:

• The contract was ambiguous. The plaintiff did not clearly state some aspects of the contract. Ambiguity makes it hard for you, as the defendant, to respond.

• There was breach of contract by the plaintiff. The plaintiff failed to comply with the terms of the transaction by changing the terms of the contract without your consent or failing to pay you.

• You were induced to enter into a contract. A contract will be invalid if it was induced under duress or undue influence. The plaintiff made you enter into the contract against your will by taking unfair advantage of your mental incapacity or by using threats or force.

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• A mistake was made. There’s a mistake involving the terms that were agreed upon by the contracting parties. You can defend yourself by proving that the mistake was mutual.

• There was fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation. Part of the contract, if not all of it, resulted from fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation by the plaintiff or another party.

If you’re charged with breach of contract, the law allows you to claim as many defenses as possible. Deciding which defenses work best for you is crucial, and seeking help from legal experts like Evan Granowitz and Thomas Gallagher is a wise move.

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The Evan Granowitz Twitter page offers some helpful information about breach of contract and other legal matters. TAGS: breach of contract, breach of contract defenses, breach of contract affirmative defenses, contract breach defenses, contract defenses, breach of contract lawsuit