Sanofi-Aventis settles with Teva, Fresenius and Sandoz over Eloxatin; invests in biotech/vaccines; signs insulin monitoring deal with AgaMatrix

French drug major Sanofi-Aventis had a couple of busy news days, entering a pay-to-delay generics deal in the USA, announcing new investments and signing deal for better monitoring of its leading insulin products for diabetic patients.

The firm revealed this morning that it has settled US patent infringement suits related to generic versions of its cancer drug Eloxatin (oxaliplatin) with Teva Pharmaceuticals, Fresenius Kabi and Sandoz, thus partially resolving disputes over certain formulation of Eloxatin in the US District Court for the districts of New Jersey and Columbia.

Under the terms of proposed settlement, the three manufacturers would stop selling their generic oxaliplatin products on June 30, 2010, and would resume doing so on August 9, 2012, under a license to re-enter the market. Further terms of the settlement were not disclosed. The drug is sold by Sanofi-Aventis under license from fellow France-based Debiopharm, which enjoined in the litigation. There are still other generics firms that have not entered into a settlement, such as Sun Pharmaceuticals, which will continue to commercialize their copy products.