Teva Announces U.S. Supreme Court Decision to Reverse Federal Circuit Court's Judgment on Copaxone 20 mg/mL Case and Remand for Further Review

JERUSALEM--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 20, 2015-- Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE:TEVA) today announced the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc. et al. Petitioners v. Sandoz Inc. et al. that reversed the Federal Circuit Court’s judgment of invalidity of Teva’s ‘808 patent for COPAXONE® (glatiramer acetate injection) 20 mg/mL. The Supreme Court remanded the case to the Federal Circuit for further review in light of the applicable standard the Supreme Court laid out for appellate review of claim construction.

“We are encouraged by the U.S. Supreme Court’s Decision and look forward to the Federal Circuit’s review,” said Erez Vigodman, President and CEO of Teva. “We will continue to explore all available avenues to protect our intellectual property for COPAXONE® 20mg/mL. COPAXONE® will remain a proprietary, global market leading product for the reduction in the frequency of relapses in patients with relapsing forms of MS over the product’s lifecycle.”

The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc. et al. Petitioners v. Sandoz Inc. et al. on October 15, 2014 to determine if claim construction rulings in patent cases are entitled to deference when the district court makes factual findings in the process.

A ruling last year by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld four Teva patents that expired in May 2014, while invalidating another patent (the ‘808 patent) that is set to expire on September 1, 2015. Prior to the appellate court’s decision, in July 2012 the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled in favor of Teva and upheld the ‘808 patent for COPAXONE® 20 mg/mL.

“There is currently no FDA-approved follow-on version of Teva’s COPAXONE®,” added Rob Koremans, MD, President and CEO of Global Specialty Medicines at Teva, “We are encouraged by the FDA’s willingness to date to have dialogue regarding the complexities of COPAXONE® 20 mg/mL and the potential limitations and other unknowns of purported follow-on versions.”

COPAXONE® is available in 20 mg/mL around the world; Teva launched a less frequent dosing formulation, 40 mg/mL three-times-a-week, in the US in Jan 2014.

ABOUT COPAXONE®

COPAXONE® (glatiramer acetate injection) is indicated for the treatment of patients with relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis. The most common side effects of COPAXONE® are redness, pain, swelling, itching, or a lump at the site of injection, flushing, rash, shortness of breath, and chest pain. See additional important information at: www.CopaxonePrescribingInformation.com. For hardcopy releases, please see enclosed full prescribing information. COPAXONE® is now approved in more than 50 countries worldwide, including the United States, Russia, Canada, Mexico, Australia, Israel, and all European countries.

Important Safety Information about COPAXONE®

Patients allergic to glatiramer acetate or mannitol should not take COPAXONE®. Some patients report a short-term reaction right after injecting COPAXONE®. This reaction can involve flushing (feeling of warmth and/or redness), chest tightness or pain with heart palpitations, anxiety, and trouble breathing. These symptoms generally appear within minutes of an injection, last about 15 minutes, and go away by themselves without further problems. During the postmarketing period, there have been reports of patients with similar symptoms who received emergency medical care. If symptoms become severe, patients should call the emergency phone number in their area. Patients should call their doctor right away if they develop hives, skin rash with irritation, dizziness, sweating, chest pain, trouble breathing, or severe pain at the injection site. If any of the above occurs, patients should not give themselves any more injections until their doctor tells them to begin again. Chest pain may occur either as part of the immediate postinjection reaction or on its own. This pain should only last a few minutes. Patients may experience more than one such episode, usually beginning at least one month after starting treatment. Patients should tell their doctor if they experience chest pain that lasts for a long time or feels very intense. A permanent indentation under the skin (lipoatrophy or, rarely, necrosis) at the injection site may occur, due to local destruction of fat tissue. Patients should follow proper injection technique and inform their doctor of any skin changes. The most common side effects of COPAXONE® are redness, pain, swelling, itching, or a lump at the site of injection, flushing, rash, shortness of breath, and chest pain. These are not all of the possible side effects of COPAXONE®. For a complete list, patients should ask their doctor or pharmacist. Patients should tell their doctor about any side effects they have while taking COPAXONE®. Patients are encouraged to report negative side effects of prescription drugs to the FDA. Visit www.fda.gov/medwatch or call 1-800-FDA-1088.

About Teva

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. is a leading global pharmaceutical company, committed to increasing access to high-quality healthcare by developing, producing and marketing affordable generic drugs as well as innovative and specialty pharmaceuticals and active pharmaceutical ingredients. Headquartered in Israel, Teva is the world's leading generic drug maker, with a global product portfolio of more than 1,000 molecules and a direct presence in approximately 60 countries. Teva's Specialty Medicines businesses focus on CNS, respiratory, oncology, pain, and women's health therapeutic areas as well as biologics. Teva currently employs approximately 45,000 people around the world and reached $20.3 billion in net revenues in 2013.

Safe Harbor Statement under the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995:

This release contains forward-looking statements, which are based on management’s current beliefs and expectations and involve a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause our future results, performance or achievements to differ significantly from the results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include risks relating to: our ability to develop and commercialize additional pharmaceutical products; competition for our innovative products, especially COPAXONE® (including competition from orally-administered alternatives, as well as from potential purported generic equivalents); the possibility of material fines, penalties and other sanctions and other adverse consequences arising out of our ongoing FCPA investigations and related matters; our ability to achieve expected results from the research and development efforts invested in our pipeline of specialty and other products; our ability to reduce operating expenses to the extent and during the timeframe intended by our cost reduction program; our ability to identify and successfully bid for suitable acquisition targets or licensing opportunities, or to consummate and integrate acquisitions; the extent to which any manufacturing or quality control problems damage our reputation for quality production and require costly remediation; our potential exposure to product liability claims that are not covered by insurance; increased government scrutiny in both the U.S. and Europe of our patent settlement agreements; our exposure to currency fluctuations and restrictions as well as credit risks; the effectiveness of our patents, confidentiality agreements and other measures to protect the intellectual property rights of our specialty medicines; the effects of reforms in healthcare regulation and pharmaceutical pricing, reimbursement and coverage; governmental investigations into sales and marketing practices, particularly for our specialty pharmaceutical products; uncertainties related to our recent management changes; the effects of increased leverage and our resulting reliance on access to the capital markets; any failure to recruit or retain key personnel, or to attract additional executive and managerial talent; adverse effects of political or economical instability, major hostilities or acts of terrorism on our significant worldwide operations; interruptions in our supply chain or problems with internal or third-party information technology systems that adversely affect our complex manufacturing processes; significant disruptions of our information technology systems or breaches of our data security; competition for our generic products, both from other pharmaceutical companies and as a result of increased governmental pricing pressures; competition for our specialty pharmaceutical businesses from companies with greater resources and capabilities; decreased opportunities to obtain U.S. market exclusivity for significant new generic products; potential liability in the U.S., Europe and other markets for sales of generic products prior to a final resolution of outstanding patent litigation; any failures to comply with complex Medicare and Medicaid reporting and payment obligations; the impact of continuing consolidation of our distributors and customers; significant impairment charges relating to intangible assets and goodwill; potentially significant increases in tax liabilities; the effect on our overall effective tax rate of the termination or expiration of governmental programs or tax benefits, or of a change in our business; variations in patent laws that may adversely affect our ability to manufacture our products in the most efficient manner; environmental risks; and other factors that are discussed in our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2013 and in our other filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made and we assume no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.