Q-Med settles dispute between US subsidiary Medicis and Genzyme
The related lawsuit alleged that Medicis infringed on a patent held by Genzyme by marketing the brands Restylane, Perlane, Restylane-L and Perlane-L in the United States.
In response to the lawsuit and in acknowledgement of a license agreement with Medicis, Q-Med has confirmed that it has decided to assume the defense of Genzyme’s claim.
This resulted in an agreement, signed yesterday between Genzyme and Q-Med, ‘whereby none of the parties admits any liability or wrongdoing relating to the claims in the lawsuit, and pursuant to which Genzyme has agreed to dismiss the case and release Medicis and Q-Med from any liability’
Q-Med pays Genzyme undisclosed sum
The settlement has also led to an agreement that no party will counter-sue, while Q-Med has agreed to an undisclosed lump sum payment to Genzyme as compensation, but Medicis will not be liable to any payment.
Q-Med recorded the costs relating to the lawsuit and the lump sum payment to Genzyme as part of costs for its recently published fourth quarter results, which also showed that sales were hit by increased competition worldwide.
The maker of anti-wrinkle skin care and filler brand Restylane reported fourth quarter pre-tax earnings down from SEK67m ($10.3m) in the fourth quarter ending December 2009, to SEK41m in the corresponding quarter for 2010.
In conjunction with the results, the company announced that it would have to up marketing efforts for the Restylane portfolio of products to remain competitive in a market where the number one rival is Allergen’s Botox brand.
Q-Med in negotiations over buy-out
Currently Q-Med is in negotiations to be bought out by L’Oreal-Nestle joint venture company, Galderma.
Last week L’Oreal-Nestle said it was planning to improve on its initial bid for Swedish Q-Med after shareholders rejected the offer.
According to ‘a person with knowledge of the matter’, L’Oreal-Nestle joint venture company Galderma now intends to raise its initial bid offer to SEK79 (€8.94) per share, up from an initial bid of SEK75 per share.
The initial offer, which valued the company at approximately €970m, fell well short of a target of 90 per cent shareholder acceptance, Galderma admitted.
