Novartis reaches agreement with CooperVision

CIBA Vision, Novartis’ eye care unit, has announced a settlement of patent litigation with CooperVision which brings a resolution to ongoing patent infringement lawsuits between the two companies.

Novartis has confirmed that the decision by CIBA Vision to license its Nicolson patents to CooperVision will enable both companies to move forward and bring new and improved products to meet the needs of eye care specialists and consumers.

The Nicolson patents cover high-oxygen-transmissible contact lenses which include CIBA Vision’s Air Optix and Night and Day silicone hydrogel contact lenses.

In exchange, CooperVision has agreed to pay CIBA Vision a royalty on US net sales of its Biofinity contact lenses until 2014 and on net sales outside the US until 2016.

CIBA Vision has also licensed two patent families from CooperVision which relate to contact lens design.

The agreement follows a previous patent litigation settlement involving Nicolson patents between CIBA Vision and Bausch & Lomb.

In 2004, Ciba Vision and Bausch & Lomb cross-licensed rights to their silicone hydrogel contact lens technology.

This week also saw Novartis announce that the marketing and sale of Prexige (lumiracoxib) in the UK and Germany had been suspended, with EU regulators initiating the Article 107 procedure to assess the benefit and risk profile of the compound.