Teva Sued by GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer Venture Over Patent on HIV Medicine
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (TEVA), the world’s largest generic-drug maker, was sued by a joint venture of GlaxoSmithKline Plc (GSK) and Pfizer Inc. (PFE) for infringing a U.S. patent for the HIV drug Epzicom.
Teva has applied to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for permission to sell generic Epzicom tablets in violation of a 2002 patent, lawyers for ViiV Healthcare said in an Aug. 5 complaint filed in federal court in Wilmington, Delaware.
Teva’s FDA submission “constitutes infringement” and “ViiV will be irreparably harmed” by the low-cost version of Epzicom if it’s sold before the patent expires in 2016, according to court papers.
GlaxoSmithKline, based in Brentford, England, and New York- based Pfizer announced the ViiV joint venture to combat HIV in 2009. The lawsuit seeks a permanent injunction to block Israel- based Teva’s U.S. sales of the drug and damages if the generic medicine is sold.
ViiV has facilities in Brentford and at Research Triangle Park in North Carolina, according to court papers.
Teva spokeswoman Denise Bradley declined to comment on the suit
The case is ViiV Healthcare UK Ltd. v. Teva Pharmaceuticals USA Inc., U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware (Wilmington).
To see the patent, click: 6,417,191.
To contact the reporter on this story: Phil Milford in Wilmington, Delaware, at pmilford@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Hytha at mhytha@bloomberg.net.
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