Saturday, October 23, 1999
For $15 million, Duramed settles Cenestin sales dispute
BY RANDY TUCKER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Duramed Pharmaceuticals said Friday that it has agreed to pay $15 million to settle a legal dispute with Schein Pharmaceuticals of Florham Park, N.J., over rights to Cenestin — Duramed's new branded version of the nation's top-selling prescription drug.
Under a 1992 agreement, Schein helped Pleasant Ridge-based Duramed fund studies for a generic version of the conjugated estrogen drug Premarin, which was rejected by regulators. In return, Schein held rights to market the generic drug and a profit-sharing split with Duramed.
After the generic drug was shelved, Schein filed suit, claiming rights under the development agreement to sell Cenestin.
Duramed maintains that it never gave Schein rights to sell a branded version of Premarin, nor rights to the technology.
Instead of risking an unfavorable court judgment, Duramed agreed to the settlement, $7.5 million of which already has been paid, with Duramed agreeing to make a second $7.5 million payment by Jan. 20.
Duramed said it will pay Schein an additional $15 million if Cenestin generates more than $100 million in sales during any five-year period in the next 15 years.
Settling the lawsuit was a condition of Solvay Pharmaceuticals agreement to purchase about 1.67 million shares of Duramed at $9 a share.
Solvay is expected to complete its purchase of Duramed stock by Dec. 31.
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