Teva wants to expand Copaxone patent lawsuit

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. said Tuesday it plans to expand a suit against Momenta Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Sandoz Inc., which are hoping to market a generic version of Teva's multiple sclerosis drug Copaxone.

Teva is now saying the two companies are violating 10 patents on Copaxone, up from seven claimed in a lawsuit filed by Teva in 2008. Teva it wants to amend its lawsuit to include the additional patents. Copaxone is under patent protection until 2014, and the three extra patents do not expire until after that, Teva said.

Sales of Copaxone totaled $776 million in the third quarter.

Teva, based in Israel, is the world's largest maker of generic drugs. Copaxone is one of its brand name drugs. Sandoz is a unit of Swiss drugmaker Novartis and is another one of the top generic drugmakers. Momenta is headquartered in Cambridge, Mass.