Biotech Values

[ThomasS]

Teva/Copaxone: Teva makes a living out of challenging patents; thus, why would anyone believe that Teva is exclusively immune?

http://www.globes.co.il/serveEN/globes/docView.asp?did=1000297929&fid=1724

One item in Teva's financials that is almost interesting, and that testifies more than anything else to its ability to continue generating substantial revenue from generics, is its generics backlog. When they attended the JP Morgan Conference, Suesskind and Marth unveiled the latest figures (the last update was in October), which reveal that 165 applications are now awaiting approval, with an aggregate $103 billion in sales based on IMS data (an average of $625 million per drug). "This is the first time that we know of that the company has passed the $100 billion mark," said Marth at the conference. Teva filed for Paragraph IV certifications for 94 of these drugs, meaning that it would officially challenge the validity of the main patent on them, and it says that in 45 of these, which have sales of $38 billion, it is the first company to file such an application, so it expects to win exclusivity on them.

http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/926624/

With Cowen sounding so optimistic, one cannot but wonder whether there is still cause for concern. The investment house's analysts note that one issue of concern is the possibility that Schering-Plough Corp. (NYSE: SGP) could become more aggressive on its range of inhaler and respiratory products, a line of business in which Teva has been showing strong growth. There is also the risk that someone could challenge Teva's own patent on its multiple sclerosis drug Copaxone. One likely challenger could be Momenta Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq: MNTA), but the Cowen analysts are optimistic about this too. "We believe that a generic formulation of Copaxone is unlikely to enter the market within the next 4-6 years," they conclude.

--Hmmm...what would give Cowen impetus to think that the Teva Copaxone patent is vulnerable?