Merck, Glenmark settle ZETIA patent litigation

Merck & Co., Inc. and Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Inc., USA and Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, Ltd. have reached an agreement to settle their patent litigation involving Glenmark's challenge to Merck's patent covering ZETIA ^® (ezetimibe). Specifically, Glenmark challenged Merck's basic compound patent, RE 37,721 (the "721 patent") on numerous grounds.

Under the agreement, Glenmark will be able to launch their product on December 12, 2016 or earlier under certain circumstances, ahead of the April 25, 2017 expiration of Merck's patent exclusivity for ZETIA.

This settlement effectively ends the lawsuit that was scheduled to begin on May 12, involving a challenge by Glenmark which sought to launch a generic version of ZETIA before the April 2017 expiration of the patent exclusivity covering ZETIA.