Teva updates on generic Biaxin

Israeli drugmaker Teva Pharmaceutical Industries says that it launched a generic version of US health care major Abbott Laboratories' Biaxin (clarithromycin) XL Filmtabs on June 23, following the decision rendered on June 22 by the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit vacating a June 2005 ruling which had granted Abbott's motion for a preliminary injunction related to the product.

In a related development, late on June 26, Abbott filed an emergency motion in the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, where the patent infringement case is pending with a trial scheduled for March 2007, to enjoin Teva from further sales of the product pending additional appeals despite the vacatur of the preliminary injunction. In order to permit this motion to be presented to the judge most familiar with the case, Abbott agreed to a briefing schedule concluding on June 29, and Teva agreed to refrain from further sales of this product pending the outcome of the motion.