Bayer and Barr agree oral contraceptive deal
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Tue, 24 Jun 2008 08:37:02 GMT |
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FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Germany's Bayer agreed to supply a generic version of its Yasmin oral contraceptive for Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc to market in the United States in return for a fixed portion of sales.Bayer said it would also grant Barr a license to market a generic version of its Yaz product. Both agreements would begin by July 1, the companies said in separate statements on Tuesday.Barr last month won U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval to sell its generic version of Yasmin after it challenged Bayer's patent, but Tuesday's deal did not mark the end of legal action.Bayer said it would continue to pursue an appeal of a New Jersey court's March decision invalidating Bayer's U.S. patent for Yasmin and said it would receive a larger share of Barr's revenues from the product if successful."The agreements allow us to participate in the U.S. market for generic oral contraceptives in partnership with an established player," Bayer HealthCare management board member Gunnar Riemann said in a statement.Riemann added he expected Bayer's global women's healthcare business to continue posting high single-digit to low double-digit percentage annual growth rates in the coming years thanks to products already on the market and "new, promising developmental products."Barr said in a separate statement that the deal would enable it to launch its authorized generic versions of Bayer's Yasmin and Yaz oral contraceptives years before the patents protecting them expired."Although Bayer will continue to appeal the (court decision) that found the Yasmin patent invalid, these agreements ensure that we will be able to continue selling our generic versions of Yasmin and Yaz regardless of the outcome of that appeal," Barr Chairman and Chief Executive Bruce L. Downey said.Bayer added that should it lose patent lawsuits in the United States against other companies concerning Yaz, it would then start supplying Yaz to Barr too for it to market a generic Yaz there in return for a fixed percentage of the revenues.(Reporting by James Regan; editing by Sue Thomas)
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