Momenta Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (MNTA)

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TEVA

The pharmaceutical company seems to be at the court’s mercy for the Copaxone patent trial, despite new developments

Published By: Eunice Gettys on September 29, 2016 11:13 am EST

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:TEVA) is currently undergoing a 7-day district court hearing for its Copaxone FY20 patents protection. Copaxone is a new version of the drug used for treating Multiple Sclerosis. In this regard, the pharmaceutical's developments are being covered by Evercore ISI and its analyst Umer Raffat.



The analyst expressed that the hearing is largely uneventful and he believes that things are not looking great for the Isreali business. However, he did highlight few points which may be considered as new developments when it comes to MS drug.

Raffat believes that the hearing exhibited new evidence, which has the potential to weaken the drugmaker’s case further. The business has been reported of submitting a Gala trial protocol to the FDA recently. Gala is the label name for Copaxone 40 mg.

He further stated that there were three new developments in the case hearing that should be noted. He commented that one of the persons skilled in art did not have access to the drug as the trial protocol was not largely public. Moreover, Judge Sleet has not yet decided whether the trial is acceptable under the testimony of Mylan NV’s (NASDAQ:MYL) Dr. Green. Even if it is not acceptable, the judge’s decision could be influenced, stating that the trial was probably obvious.

Despite this, Mr. Raffat believes that the hearings provide little reason to believe that the court would provide a different decision than Inter Partes Review conducted for the FY30 three patents. The board is known for declining three of its patents for FY30 period. He thinks that none of the evidence provided during the first few days proved that the decision may move in their favor. Thus, the pharmaceutical is believed to be in some serious trouble as the proceedings follow.

Raffat also believes that the drugmaker is at the mercy of the court and may try to postpone the proceedings to buy time for gathering and introducing additional arguments and witnesses. Thus, its investors remain bullish on future decisions and developments in the court proceedings.