The Budapest Municipal Court on Monday rejected US drugmaker Merck's claim against Hungarian drugmaker Richter regarding patent rights for an osteoporosis drug, and it ordered Merck to pay compensation to Richter. The ruling may still be appealed.
Our view: Richter sued Merck in February 2006 for HUF 3.5bn (US$ 18m) to cover losses suffered after it was forced to temporarily withdraw its generic Osteoporosis drug, Sedron, that Merck said infringed on its own patent on Fosamax. However, the court ruled in January 2006 in favour of Richter stating that the drug did not infringe on Merck's patent. Now, a further court decision is needed to set the amount of compensation Merck should pay. Since Richter’s lost turnover until Sedron was out from the market are unlikely to exceed HUF 2bn, we estimate the actual sum between HUF 500m-HUF 3.5bn.