Sepracor sues Barr Pharmaceuticals
Patent infringement alleged
By Phil Milford BLOOMBERG NEWS
Saturday, July 14, 2007
MARLBORO— Sepracor Inc., which is based in Marlboro, has sued a unit of Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc. alleging infringement of five patents for Xopenex, a medicine used for inhalation therapy by asthma patients.
Sepracor, maker of the Lunesta sleeping pill, contends in the federal complaint filed Thursday in Delaware that Barr Laboratories plans to market a generic version of Xopenex in violation of patents awarded since 1994. The company asked a judge for an order to stop Barr’s sales.
Barr’s application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to sell a generic form of the medication says that, “in Barr’s opinion, Sepracor’s patents are invalid, unenforceable and-or not infringed,” court papers say.
Sepracor, with $1.19 billion in 2006 revenue, logged $555 million in Xopenex sales last year, almost half the company’s total.
The U.S. Medicare program said in May it would cut some reimbursement for Xopenex in favor of the albuterol generic.
Sepracor sued Napa, Calif.-based Dey Inc., a unit of Merck KGaA, last year over the same patents in the same court.
Carol Cox, a Barr spokeswoman, didn’t immediately return phone and e-mail messages seeking comment on the lawsuit.
More than 31 million Americans have been diagnosed with asthma, about a third of them children under 18, according to GlaxoSmithKline Plc’s asthma.com Web site.
Shares of Woodcliff Lake, N.J.-based Barr, with $1.31 billion in 2006 sales, rose 14 cents to $52.02 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading yesterday. The stock has risen about 13 percent in a year.
Sepracor fell 81 cents to $41.96 in Nasdaq Stock Market composite trading. |
