Teva Pay-For-Delay Plausible; Judge Finds Payments Exceed Litigation Costs

Focused on $300 million in payments Cephalon made to generic firms to settle Provigil patent suits, case is second to proceed to trial since Supreme Court’s Actavis decision.

The Federal Trade Commission’s long-running suit against Cephalon Inc. and several generic manufacturers will be heading to trial as a federal judge found that the total payments Cephalon (now Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.) made to settle Provigil (modafinil) patent infringement suits “greatly exceed saved litigation expenses.”

In a Jan. 28 memorandum opinion, Eastern District of Pennsylvania Judge Mitchell Goldberg denied the defendants’ motion...