Judge orders generics to pay Takeda legal fees

NEW YORK, March 21 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Wednesday ordered Mylan Laboratories Inc. MYL.N and another generic drug maker to pay a combined $16.8 million in legal fees to Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd. (4502.T), which won a patent dispute against the companies last year.

In February 2006, U.S. District Judge Denise Cote ruled that Takeda's patent on its Actos diabetes drug was valid, a blow to Mylan and Alphapharm, another drug maker, which both had challenged it. Cote ordered the defendants in September to reimburse Takeda for its legal fees, but the two companies challenged the amount Takeda had sought.

In a ruling on Wednesday, Cote said that Mylan should pay Takeda $11.4 million for its attorney fees and other expenses, and that Australia-based Alphapharm must pay $5.4 million. Both companies also must pay interest accruing from September 2006.

Judge Cote, who sits in Manhattan, cited what she called the defendants "exceptional misconduct and bad faith" in her decision to award Takeda reimbursement of its legal fees.

In the original lawsuit, Osaka-based Takeda alleged that Mylan and Alphapharm violated patents protecting its $2 billion a year Actos drug used to treat Type II diabetes. Takeda's Actos patent expires in 2011.

Mylan declined comment on the fee ruling. A Takeda representative was not immediately available, nor was a representative from Alphapharm.

((Reporting by Martha Graybow and Lewis Krauskopf, editing by Martin Golan; Reuters Messaging: martha.graybow.reuters.com@reuters.net; +1-646-223-6133)) Keywords: MYLAN TAKEDA

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