AstraZeneca in Crestor patent settlement with Actavis and EGIS Pharma

Anglo-Swedish drug major AstraZeneca (LSE: AZN) has entered into a settlement agreement in its US patent infringement litigation against USA-based Watson Laboratories, Actavis (NYSE: ACT; formerly known as Watson Pharmaceuticals but changed its trading name after acquiring Actavis), and Hungarian drugmaker EGIS Pharmaceuticals regarding Watson’s proposed rosuvastatin zinc product.

Watson, a successor of Cobalt, also agreed not to further appeal a decision by the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit that upheld the validity and enforceability of the AstraZeneca’s blockbuster cholesterol lowerer Crestor (rosuvastatin calcium) substance patent. Japan’s Shionogi, AstraZeneca’s partner, is also a party to the settlement agreement.

Under the accord, Watson and EGIS concede that the Crestor substance patent is valid, enforceable and would be infringed by Watson’s rosuvastatin zinc product and its rosuvastatin calcium product. Crestor, for which patents were recently invalidated in Australia (The Pharma Letter March 5), is expected to generate global revenues of some $6 billion this year, having hit $6.25 billion in 2012, around half of which comes from the USA.