Amphastar to Get $59.9 Million in Settlement With Momenta, Sandoz -- Update

By Colin Kellaher

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals Inc. (AMPH) on Wednesday said it will receive nearly $60 million from Momenta Pharmaceuticals Inc. (MNTA) and a unit of Novartis AG (NVS) after the companies agreed to settle their long-running litigation related to generic versions of the blood-thinner Lovenox.

Amphastar, a Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., specialty pharmaceutical company, said Novartis' Sandoz and Momenta will pay $59.9 million by July 2 as part of the settlement, under which the companies will dismiss all pending litigation.

Momenta and its partner Sandoz filed a patent-infringement suit against Amphastar in 2011, seeking more than $900 million in damages, after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Amphastar's generic version of Sanofi's (SNY) Lovenox. Amphastar later countered with an antitrust suit against Momenta and Sandoz.

Momenta, a Cambridge, Mass., biotechnology company, said it will pay $21 million to Amphastar under the settlement. Momenta had previously posted $36.1 million as collateral for a $100 million security bond in connection with the patent litigation and had classified the collateral as restricted cash on its consolidated balance sheet.

Write to Colin Kellaher at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 19, 2019 08:45 ET (12:45 GMT)

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