Actavis, Shire Headed for Trial on Intuniv Generic Delay Claims

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. unit Actavis Inc. and Takeda Pharmaceuticals Co. subsidiary Shire PLC must go to trial on claims that they used an illegal patent settlement to delay generic versions of Shire’s ADHD drug Intuniv, a federal judge in Boston said in a ruling unsealed Friday.

Although Shire reserved the right to compete against Actavis’ eventual generic, a jury should hear evidence that the provision “was merely used as a cover” for Shire’s secret pledge not to launch its own “authorized generic,” so it could “insulate itself from a lawsuit such as this,” Judge Allison D. Burroughs wrote.

“A ...