BioCentury
ARTICLE | Company News

Actavis, AstraZeneca cardiovascular news

April 1, 2013 7:00 AM UTC

AstraZeneca granted Actavis rights to sell Actavis' rosuvastatin zinc tablets and a generic version of AstraZeneca's cardiovascular drug Crestor rosuvastatin calcium beginning May 2, 2016. Actavis, formerly known as Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc., will pay the pharma 39% of net sales on the generic until the end of Crestor's pediatric exclusivity period on July 8, 2016. The deal is part of a settlement under which Watson agrees not to challenge a December 2012 ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which upheld a lower court decision finding that the U.S. substance patent covering Crestor is valid and enforceable. In 2010, the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware ruled in a consolidated case that ANDA submissions from eight generic manufacturers, including Watson, infringed AstraZeneca's U.S. Patent No. RE 37,314, which covers the chemical compound rosuvastatin calcium (see BioCentury, Nov. 1, 2010 & Dec. 24, 2012). ...