Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (Nasdaq: TEVA; TASE: TEVA) suffered a legal blow yesterday to its attempt at an at-risk launch of a generic version of Eli Lilly's osteoporosis treatment Evista.
On January 14, Teva asked the Federal Court of Appeals in Washington, DC, to remove an injunction given on October 30, 2008 by a judge in Indiana.
The injunction forbids the FDA to grant final approval for Teva's generic version of Evista until the beginning of the hearing in the action against Teva for breaching patents on the drug. The hearing is scheduled for March 9.
In 2007, Evista had sales of some $700 million in the US.
The first to file an application for a generic version of Evista was Barr, followed by Teva. Since Barr has failed to obtain FDA approval of its application, and with the completion of Teva's acquisition of Barr, Teva now controls both applications and can cancel Barr's request for exclusivity.
Leader Capital Markets analyst Yoav Burgan says that had Teva succeeded in having the injunction lifted, it could have benefitted to the tune of a $0.04 addition to its earnings per share (EPS) in 2009. Teva's 2009 EPS are currently estimated at $2.97. Leader's target price for Teva is $54, and it gives the stock a "Buy" recommendation.
Credit Suisse has started covering Teva with an "Outperform" recommendation and a twelve-month target price of $54, based on a p/e ratio of 14 and EPS of $4.21 in 2010, and a discount rate of 10%. Credit Suisse sees sales of Teva's multiple sclerosis drug Copaxone exceeding $3 billion in 2011.
Teva shares closed at $45.34 in New York yesterday, giving the company a market cap of $35.6 billion.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on February 25, 2009
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