Pfizer Approves $11 Bln Share Buyback, Dividend; Wins Sutent Patent Case

(RTTNews) - Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. (PFE) said Thursday that its board of directors approved a new $11 billion share repurchase program and declared a fourth-quarter dividend.

The company also said that a U.S. court has ruled in its favor in a patent lawsuit filed against generic drug maker Mylan Inc. (MYL) related to Pfizer's cancer drug Sutent.

Pfizer's board authorized the new $11 billion share repurchase program to be utilized over time. The new program is in addition to the $1.3 billion of authorization remaining under the company's current share repurchase program.

Further, the board declared a fourth-quarter 2014 dividend of $0.26 per share on the company's common stock, payable on December 2, 2014, to shareholders of record at the close of business on November 7, 2014.

The fourth-quarter 2014 cash dividend will be the 304th consecutive quarterly dividend paid by Pfizer.

In a separate statement, Pfizer said that the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware upheld its basic patent and the L-malate salt patent covering Sutent, or sunitinib malate capsules.

The decision, which is subject to appeal, affirms Pfizer's right to exclusively provide sunitinib malate as Sutent to patients through until the patent expires in 2021.

Douglas Lankler, executive vice president and general counsel for Pfizer said, "The Court's decision acknowledges the validity and infringement of our patents and affirms the value of Sutent, a standard of care in the treatment of advanced renal cell carcinoma."

Pfizer filed the lawsuit in June 2010 after Mylan Pharmaceuticals Inc. applied to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or FDA to market a generic version of Sutent prior to the expiration of the patents covering sunitinib malate and its uses.

After a four-day trial, the court agreed that Mylan infringed the valid patents covering Sutent. The patents at issue are U.S. patent numbers 6,573,293 and 7,125,905.

PFE closed Thursday's regular trading session at $28.60, up $0.30 or 1.06 percent on a volume of 30.78 million shares. In after-hours, the stock further gained $0.51 or 1.78 percent to $29.11.