Medicines Co. is another step closer to clearing its patent protection on its key money-earner Angiomax. The company has been fighting the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to get it to reconsider its application for a patent extension on Angiomax. The agency said the company filed too late, but Medicines Co. disputed that calculation.
A federal court ruled that the PTO should reconsider Medicines' patent extension. The PTO duly granted a one-year extension to give it time to review the paperwork. But APP Pharmaceuticals, a generics maker with conditional FDA approval to sell a copycat version of Angiomax, sued, asking for the right to appeal that ruling.
Now, the U.S. Solicitor General has decided not to appeal that district court ruling. And the district court denied APP's motion to intervene in the case. Medicines Co.'s stock rose on the news, and at least one analyst raised his price target for the stock to $17, saying "events have clearly shifted" in the company's favor. "[S]hould subsequent events solidify Angiomax's exclusivity until 2015," Wedbush says, its estimate of fair value for the stock would rise past $20 per share.
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- check out the Wedbush assessment