Abbott in settlement deal with Teva over Tricor generic

In a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, health care giant Abbott Laboratories revealed it has entered into a license agreement with Teva Pharmaceuticals USA granting the Israeli firm's local subsidiary rights to intellectual property for Tricor (fenofibrate) 145mg no sooner than March 28, 2011. Under certain defined circumstances, Teva may not receive rights to this intellectual property until July 1, 2012.

Financial details of the settlement were not disclosed. Abbott licensed TriCor from French drugmaker Fournier ' which has also agreed to the accord - in the late 1990s. The drug is prescribed to help lower levels of bad cholesterol and triglycerides, and to raise good cholesterol.

Kelly Morrison, an Abbott spokeswoman, said the company was not paying Teva to delay selling a generic, describing the deal as a "pure licensing agreement,' reported the Wall Street Journal.

In the USA, the National Institutes of Health has conducted a large study testing whether adding TriCor to the cholesterol-lowering drug simvastatin is any better than simvastatin alone at improving cardiovascular outcomes in diabetics. Treatment in the NIH study ended in June and results are expected to be reported in early 2010. Some analysts think there's a good chance the results will be negative for TriCor, reports CNNMoney.com.

In its third-quarter report, Abbott said combined sales of TriCor and follow-on drug Trilipix (fenofibric acid) slid 1% to $330 million for the three months compared with the like period of 2008.

Abbott still has pending patent litigation involving TriCor with Biovail, Lupin and Impax Laboratories. Last year, Abbott announced settlements totaling about $184 million for a federal court case involving class action claims over TriCor. That settlement resolved allegations by drug wholesalers and generic drugmakers that Abbott sought to block competition for cheaper, generic versions of the drug. Teva was a plaintiff in that case, which alleged that the US major had made minor changes to TriCor's formulation to prevent generic versions from being launched.