Glenmark settles up with Merck for Zetia

Drug-maker Glenmark is set to benefit from the settlement of its patent litigation with Merck on ezetimibe, the cholesterol-modifying drug sold by the latter as Zetia. Zetia is a blockbuster product, with its sales in the US estimated at $1.4 billion.

The settlement gives Glenmark a four-and-a-half-month period of exclusive sales that gets shared with Par Pharmaceutical, following a deal on the same drug earlier this month. The settlement with Merck ends the lawsuit involving a challenge by Glenmark – as it sought to launch a generic version of Zetia before the April 2017 expiration of the patent exclusivity on the drug.

The agreement will now allow Glenmark to launch its product in the US on December 12, 2016, or earlier under certain circumstances, ahead of the April 25, 2017, expiration of Merck's patent exclusivity for Zetia.

Glenmark looks set to get about $150 million when generic Zetia hits the market in 2016, despite the licensing and supply agreement with Par Pharma. Under the existing agreement, Par had paid Glenmark for exclusive rights to market, sell and distribute ezetimibe in the US. The companies will share profits from the sales of the product.