What's Next For Teva Pharmaceutical Following Patent Ruling?

On August 24, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) invalidated Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (ADR) TEVA ‘250 and ‘450 mg/mL Copaxone patents. This week, the PTAB invalidated the remaining ‘302 patent as well.

Where do these PTAB decisions leave investors? According to Oppenheimer analyst Rohit Vanjani, Teva's stock is now a Buy.

The next step in the patent ruling process is a U.S. District Court ruling in Delaware, which will likely come in 2017. Vanjani said the court ruling will be more important than the PTAB decision.

“Though the District Court could benchmark its decision to the PTAB, our consultant checks indicate that the judge would likely review the case independently, giving Teva another shot on goal,” Vanjani explained.

“We note that Judge Sleet is the same judge that previously ruled in Teva’s favor, upholding the validity of Treanda’s formulation patents in a case in mid-June.”

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Oppenheimer moved Teva to Perform in August given the uncertainty of the market reaction to the PTAB decision. Now that the uncertainty has passed, Oppenheimer has upgraded the stock to Outperform with a $66 price target.

So far in 2016, Teva’s stock is down 21.3 percent, but Oppenheimer’s price target represents nearly 30 percent upside.

At time of writing, Teva was up 1.16 percent on Friday, trading at $51.51.

Full ratings data available on Benzinga Pro.