Medicis Pharmaceutical Corp. (MRX) and Teva Pharmaceutical
Industries Ltd. (TEVA) late Wednesday said they have agreed to halt
all legal disputes between them over Medicis' Solodyn Extended
Release tablets, which are used to treat acne.
Under the settlement, Teva agreed to immediately stop all
further shipments of its generic version of Solodyn, the two
companies said in a statement.
Medicis will release Teva from liability related to prior sales
of the Israel-based company's generic Solodyn, which were not
authorized by Medicis.
Teva has the option to market its generic Solodyn in the 45
milligrams, 90mg, and 135 mg forms under intellectual property
rights belonging to Medicis from November 2011, or earlier under
certain conditions.
The settlement agreement follows an announcement earlier
Wednesday by Teva that was granted final approval by the U.S. Food
and Drug Administration for its generic version of Solodyn.
Also Wednesday, Medicis said it was denied its petition to block
for 30 months the approval of generic versions of Solodyn, an acne
treatment that generated more than half its revenue last year. The
petition was to block abbreviated new drug applications submitted
by Mylan Inc., Novartis AG unit Sandoz Inc. and Barr Laboratories
Inc.