Pfizer Joins Ranks of Copaxone Competitors

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. will face a major new competitor for its best-selling multiple sclerosis treatment, Copaxone, with Pfizer’s purchase of U.S. marketing rights to 20 and 40 milligram (mg) doses of the drug’s generic equivalent, glatiramer acetate.

The U.S. drug giant bought the marketing rights from Synthon, a Netherlands-based developer of complex generic medicines, the companies said Aug. 3.

Under the agreement, Pfizer will have exclusive rights to commercialize both dosages of Synthon’s glatiramer acetate in the U.S. Synthon is responsible for its clinical development, manufacture and supply. Financial terms of the agreement weren’t disclosed.

The agreement’s inclusion of ...