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LITIGATION
6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2013
LITIGATION  
LITIGATION

12.               LITIGATION

 

Hatch-Waxman Litigation

 

Testim, XIAFLEX, TESTOPEL, Edex®, and the Company’s other marketed products are approved under the provisions of the U.S. Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act that renders each susceptible to potential competition from generic manufacturers via the Abbreviated New Drug Application (“ANDA”) procedure or the 505(b)(2) New Drug Application (“505(b)(2) NDA”) procedure. Generic manufacturers can sell their products at prices much lower than those charged by the innovative pharmaceutical companies who have incurred substantial expenses associated with the research and development of the drug product.

 

The ANDA procedure and the 505(b)(2) NDA procedure include provisions allowing generic manufacturers to challenge the effectiveness of the innovator’s patent protection long before the generic manufacturer actually commercializes their products through the paragraph IV certification procedure. In recent years, generic manufacturers have used paragraph IV certifications extensively to challenge patents on a wide array of innovative pharmaceuticals, and we expect this trend to continue and to implicate drug products with even relatively small total revenues.

 

TESTOPEL and Edex and certain other of the Company’s products do not currently have any patent protection and, as a result, potential competitors face fewer barriers in introducing competing products.  Therefore, the Company must rely on trade secrets and other unpatented proprietary information in order to obtain a competitive advantage, which it may be unable to do. While the Company attempts to protect its proprietary information as trade secrets effectively, the Company cannot guarantee that the measures it has taken will provide effective protection for its proprietary information. It is possible that the Company’s competitors will independently develop products that compete with TESTOPEL and Edex and certain other of its products.

 

Upsher-Smith Litigations

 

The Company is currently engaged in separate litigations with Upsher-Smith Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (“Upsher-Smith”) in Federal court in Delaware regarding Upsher-Smith’s attempts to bring a generic testosterone gel product to market via an ANDA or 505(b)(2) NDA using Testim as its reference listed drug.  Upsher-Smith will not be able to lawfully launch a generic or branded generic version of Testim in the U.S. without the necessary approval from the FDA.  The previously pending ANDA litigation in Federal court in New Jersey was dismissed in March 2013, and, although Upsher-Smith initially appealed, the Company and Upsher-Smith have since jointly agreed to dismiss the appeal.  We refer to the ANDA litigation in Delaware as the “Delaware Upsher-Smith ANDA Litigation”, the 505(b)(2) NDA litigation in Delaware as the “Delaware Upsher-Smith 505(b)(2) NDA Litigation”, the litigation in New Jersey as the “New Jersey Upsher-Smith ANDA Litigation”, and all three of them collectively as the “Upsher-Smith Litigations”.

 

Delaware ANDA

 

In October 2008, the Company and its licensor, CPEX Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (FCB I LLC’s (“FCB”) predecessor in interest to Testim), received notice that Upsher-Smith filed an ANDA containing a paragraph IV certification seeking approval from the FDA to market a generic version of Testim prior to the January 2025 expiration of the ‘968 Patent. Shortly after, the Company commenced the Delaware Upsher-Smith ANDA Litigation.  Although it would seem unlikely based on (i) the FDA’s public statements in its responses to the Citizen’s Petitions submitted by each of the Company and AbbVie Inc. (“AbbVie”) and (ii) Upsher-Smith’s public stance that its generic product has different penetration enhancers than Testim, the FDA could approve the generic product proposed in Upsher-Smith’s ANDA. With FDA approval, even if the Delaware Upsher-Smith ANDA Litigation remains pending, Upsher-Smith may nevertheless choose to launch this generic product at risk of infringing the ‘968 patent.  Although administratively closed in December 2011, the Delaware Upsher-Smith ANDA Litigation has not been dismissed or finally resolved and could also result in a finding that Upsher-Smith’s proposed testosterone product does not infringe the ‘968 Patent or that the ‘968 Patent is invalid and/or unenforceable.  All discovery obligations of the parties continue to be in effect.   In April 2012, the Company and FCB received a notice from Upsher-Smith in connection with its ANDA advising the Company and FCB of Upsher-Smith’s Paragraph IV certification relating to the eight additional patents listed in the Orange Book in addition to the ‘968 patent-in-suit, and asserting that Upsher-Smith does not believe that the product for which it is seeking approval infringes any of the Orange Book listed Testim patents and that those patents are invalid.  A tenth U.S. patent issued to FCB on May 15, 2012 and was listed in the Orange Book.

 

New Jersey ANDA

 

On March 27, 2013, the Company and FCB learned that Judge Linares of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey ruled in favor of Auxilium and FCB on their motion to dismiss the lawsuit previously filed by Upsher-Smith on September 10, 2012.  On April 25, 2013, Upsher-Smith filed a Notice of Appeal, appealing the dismissal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.  On June 14, 2013, the Court dismissed the appeal pursuant to a joint motion filed by us and Upsher-Smith, thereby terminating the lawsuit.  The lawsuit had sought a declaration of non-infringement and/or invalidity of FCB’s U.S. Patent Nos.: 7,608,605; 7,608,606; 7,608,607; 7,608,608; 7,608,609; 7,608,610; 7,935,690; and 8,063,029.  All of the eight referenced patents cover our Testim® 1% testosterone gel, and the eight referenced patents are among the ten FCB patents covering Testim that are currently listed in the Orange Book.  The referenced patents will expire between 2023 and 2025.

 

Delaware 505(b)(2) NDA

 

On or about December 28, 2012, the Company and FCB became aware of a notice from Upsher-Smith that advised the Company and FCB of Upsher-Smith’s filing of a 505(b)(2) NDA containing a Paragraph IV certification under 21 U.S.C. Section 314.52(c) for testosterone gel (the “Upsher-Smith NDA”). This Paragraph IV certification notice refers to the ten U.S. patents, covering Testim, that are listed in the Orange Book.  These ten patents are owned by FCB and are exclusively licensed to Auxilium and will expire between 2023 and 2025.  Upsher-Smith may seek to have any drug approved under the Upsher-Smith NDA as a generic or branded generic version of Testim.  On January 28, 2013, the Company and FCB filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware against Upsher-Smith for infringement of FCB’s ten patents listed in the Orange Book as covering Testim® 1% testosterone gel.  A hearing on Upsher-Smith’s previously filed motion for summary judgment was held on June 28, 2013, and by request of the Court, the parties submitted additional briefing in the weeks following the hearing.  The Company is currently awaiting a ruling from the Court which the Company believes could come as early as during the third quarter of 2013.   If summary judgment is granted, Upsher-Smith could launch a 1% testosterone gel product using Testim as the reference drug immediately after such ruling, if it receives approval by the FDA.  If summary judgment is not granted, the trial is currently scheduled to commence in June 2014.

 

On March 26, 2013, the Company submitted a Citizen’s Petition to the FDA with respect to Upsher-Smith’s 505(b)(2) NDA referencing Testim.  The Company requested that, in the event of FDA approval of the Upsher-Smith 505(b)(2) NDA, the FDA: (i) refrain from designating Upsher-Smith’s testosterone gel as therapeutically equivalent to Testim and (ii) require that the label for the Upsher-Smith testosterone gel state that the product is not interchangeable with other testosterone transdermal gels.  Since any such approval by the FDA would be pursuant to a 505(b)(2) NDA and not pursuant to an ANDA, it is unclear at this time whether such an Upsher-Smith product would receive a therapeutically equivalent rating to Testim or a different rating.

 

Watson Litigation

 

ANDA Litigation with Watson

 

On May 24, 2012, the Company and FCB filed a lawsuit against Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (now known as Actavis, Inc.) (“Watson”) for infringement of FCB’s ten patents listed in the Orange Book as covering Testim® 1% testosterone gel (the “Watson Litigation”).  The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey on May 23, 2012 in response to a notice letter, dated April 12, 2012, sent by Watson Laboratories, Inc. (NV) regarding its filing with the FDA of an ANDA for a generic 1% testosterone gel product.  This letter also stated that the ANDA contained Paragraph IV certifications with respect to the nine patents listed in the Orange Book on that date as covering Testim.  The Company’s lawsuit filed against Watson involves those nine patents, as well as a tenth patent covering Testim that was issued on May 15, 2012 and is listed in the Orange Book.

 

Other Matters

 

The Company is also party to various other actions and claims arising in the normal course of business that it does not believe are material.  The Company believes that amounts accrued for awards or assessments in connection with all such matters are adequate and that the ultimate resolution of these matters will not have a material adverse effect on the its financial position or the manner in which the Company conduct its business. However, there exists a reasonable possibility of loss in excess of the amounts accrued, the amount of which cannot currently be estimated. While the Company does not believe that the amount of such excess loss could be material to its financial position, any such loss could have a material adverse effect on its results of operations or the manner in which the Company conducts its business in the period(s) during which the underlying matters are resolved.