Views on Sun Pharmaceuticals announces Absorica patent litigation settlement: Angel Broking

Views of Ms. Sarabjit Kour Nangra (VP Research - Pharma, Angel Broking)

Sun Pharmaceuticals announces Absorica patent litigation settlement:

"Sun Pharmaceutical Industries has announced that Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Ranbaxy), a wholly-owned subsidiary, along with its partners, Cipher Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Cipher) and Galephar Pharmaceutical Research, Inc. (Galephar) have entered into a Settlement Agreement with Actavis Group (Actavis) that dismisses the patent litigation suit relating to Actavis' Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) for a generic version of Absorica®(isotretinoin capsules).

As part of the Settlement Agreement, Ranbaxy, Cipher, and Galephar have entered into a non-exclusive license agreement with Actavis under which Actavis may begin selling its generic version of Absorica® in the U.S. on December 27, 2020 (approximately nine months prior to the expiration of the patents in September 2021) or earlier under certain circumstances. The other terms of the agreement are confidential. The Settlement Agreement is subject to review by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice.

The US market size in 2015 is estimated to be around US$120mn for the said drug. Agreement will disallow generic competition till 2020. The company could do similar deals with other generic companies in future. We maintain ACCUMULATE rating with a target price of INR 950."

Shares of SUN PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRIES LTD. was last trading in BSE at Rs.909.7 as compared to the previous close of Rs. 898.2. The total number of shares traded during the day was 301879 in over 10687 trades.

The stock hit an intraday high of Rs. 919.95 and intraday low of 902.25. The net turnover during the day was Rs. 274944065.

Source : Equity Bulls

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