[Ip-health] Aspen Merck deal announced

[James Love]

This gives Aspen voluntary deals with BMS, GSK and Merck.
Jamie

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ASPEN PHARMACARE & MERCK GENERICS (RSA) ENTER INTO
 INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY TRANSFER AGREEMENT
                                                     2001-09-27

http://www.aspenpharmacare.co.za/showarticle.php?id=132

 Aspen Pharmacare, South Africa's largest listed pharmaceutical company,
has entered into an intellectual property transfer and mutual
co-operation agreement for Southern Africa with Generics
 (UK) Limited and Merck Generics (RSA) subsidiaries of the international
Merck Generics Group.

 Reciprocal rights of access have been granted by Merck Generics and
Aspen Pharmacare to their respective intellectual property for the next
five years.

The intellectual property includes all existing registration dossiers,
those currently in development, and any of those which are developed or
may be in the process of development over the next five years. A
reciprocal royalty arrangement has been structured between the parties.

 Aspen Pharmacare Group CEO, Stephen Saad said: "This deal serves to
bolster our pipeline and give it depth and continuity for the future.
Merck are one of the leading generic companies worldwide and have a
pipeline of dossiers to maintain this status. As an important regional
player, Aspen Pharmacare has endeavoured to foster relations with
leading multinational generic companies in order to build on our strong
South African platform. As a result of the co-operation we currently
enjoy in the UK with Merck Generics via our subsidiary Co-pharma, Merck
Generics (RSA) was our logical choice of partners for South Africa. We
hope in future to extend this relationship to other areas of
co-operation."

 Deon Vos, Managing Director of Merck Generics (RSA) said: "Aspen is the
dominant generic player in this country. We believe that with our
breadth of intellectual property and Aspen's regional and field presence
we have the making of a win-win relationship for both companies. This
deal, because it covers a generic product portfolio, will be of benefit
to the South African consumer."

 Durban
 27 September 2001
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James Love, Consumer Project on Technology, http://www.cptech.org
love@cptech.org, v. 1.202.387.8030, f 1.202.234.5176