Cephalon and Teva settle patent suits over Provigil

Cephalon Inc., which has a manufacturing plant in Salt Lake City, will end two lawsuits against Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. under an agreement designed to keep a generic version of the sleep-disorder drug Provigil off the market until at least 2011.

Teva, the world's largest generic-drug company, will make Provigil for Cephalon and pay royalties as part of the accord. Provigil accounted for $364.5 million, or 44 percent, of Cephalon's sales in the year's first nine months. Provigil sales rose 32 percent in the third quarter.

Teva may begin selling a generic version of Provigil in the U.S. in October 2011 and outside the U.S. a year later, the companies said Friday in similar statements. The start dates would be about three years sooner than if Teva had lost suits filed by Cephalon in March 2003 in Newark, New Jersey, and the United Kingdom.