BioCentury
ARTICLE | Company News

Actavis Inc., Alkem Laboratories, Amerigen Pharmaceuticals Ltd., Forest Laboratories, Glenmark, Hetero Drugs Ltd., Indchemie Health Specialties Pvt. Ltd., Torre

November 18, 2013 8:00 AM UTC

Forest settled two lawsuits that alleged the generic companies' ANDAs for generic versions of hypertension drug Bystolic nebivolol infringed U.S. Patent No. 6,545,040. In March 2012, Forest filed Forest Laboratories Inc. et al v. Torrent Pharmaceuticals Ltd. et al against Amerigen, Glenmark, Hetero Drugs' Hetero Labs Ltd. facility, Torrent and Actavis (formerly Watson Laboratories Inc.) in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware. Forest filed a similar suit, Forest Laboratories, Inc. et al v. Indchemie Health Specialties PVT. LTD. et al, the same month against Alkem and Indchemie in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Under the terms of the settlement, the generic companies may launch FDA-approved generic versions of Bystolic in the U.S. three months before the '040 patent expires. The patent covers methods of treating hypertension with Bystolic and expires on Dec. 17, 2021 (see BioCentury, March 19, 2012). ...