• Antares Pharma Inc., of Ewing, N.J., said development partner Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., of Jerusalem, entered into a settlement agreement with Pfizer Inc. subsidiary Meridian Medical Technologies Inc., of Columbia, Md., resolving pending patent litigation related to its abbreviated new drug application (ANDA) for a generic epinephrine auto-injector. The settlement allows Teva to launch a generic epinephrine auto-injector covered by its ANDA on June 22, 2015, or earlier under certain circumstances, subject to FDA approval. Additional terms were not disclosed. Separately, Teva agreed to provide Antares with device orders of an undisclosed amount in 2013 and 2014, to make a milestone payment to Antares upon FDA approval of epinephrine auto-injector and to assume litigation costs related to the patent litigation with Meridian Medical. (See BioWorld Today, Aug. 18, 2011.)

• Hi-Tech Pharmacal Co. Inc., of Amityville, N.Y., agreed to acquire the rights to market generic lidocaine 5 percent ointment from Septodont Inc., of Lancaster, Pa. Profits from sale of the product, indicated for use as a local anesthetic, will be shared with Septodont, a dental pharmaceutical firm.

• Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Parsippany, N.J., agreed to acquire privately held Actavis Group, of Zug, Switzerland, for an up-front payment of €4.25 billion (US$5.6 billion). Actavis Inc., of Morristown, N.J., is the U.S. commercialization partner for MoxDuo IR, a fixed-dose combination of morphine and oxycodone developed by QRxPharma Ltd., of Sydney, Australia. The product is expected to launch in the third quarter.