Generic drugmaker Par Pharmaceutical is throwing in the towel in its long-running fight with Santarus ($SNTS) over its heartburn med Zegerid, and $100 million along with it. It reported today that the payment will settle their back-and-forth patent suit.
Par ($PRX) reported the settlement with Salix Pharmaceuticals and the University of Missouri in an SEC filing today. Salix bought Santarus last year. Par said that it agreed not to reintroduce a generic of the drug until the patent falls off in 2016.
The University of Missouri and Santarus filed the patent infringement lawsuit against Par back in 2007. As The Wall Street Journal points out, a federal district court found in Par's favor in 2010 and the drugmaker got its first-to-file generic to market shortly after. But in September 2012, that decision was reversed and sent back to the district court for more proceedings. Par pulled the copycat drug.
Salix bought Santarus last year in a $2.6 billion deal to get its hands on Zegerid, as well as other gastrointestinal drugs like the ulcerative colitis treatment Uceris and some in-development treatments for angioedema and traveler's diarrhea.
But the drug could end up in someone else's ownership basket. The WSJ reported last month that Allergan ($AGN) has approached Salix about a buyout that it hoped would make it so big that it would stoop a takeover by Valeant Pharmaceuticals ($VRX).
- here's Par's SEC filing
- get more from WSJ (sub. req.)