FRX Forest Road Acquisition Corp

   DOW JONES NEWSWIRES 
 

Forest Laboratories Inc. (FRX) and Johnson & Johnson's (JNJ) Janssen Pharmaceutica NV sued several drug makers over plans to market generic versions of Forest's Bystolic hypertension drug, citing an existing patent.

The lawsuit before the U.S. District Court in Delaware names units of Amerigen Pharmaceuticals Inc., Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (532296.BY), Hetero USA Inc., Torrent Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (500420.BY) and Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc. (WPI) as defendants. The two drug makers also sued Alkem Laboratories Ltd. and Indchemie Health Specialties Pvt. Ltd in Chicago's U.S. district court.

Forest's patent on the blood-pressure medication expires in December 2021 after patent-term extension.

Shares of Forest were up 10 cents at $33.80 mid-Wednesday, in line with the broader market. Johnson & Johnson was off 21 cents at $65.12.

-By Drew FitzGerald, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2909; Andrew.FitzGerald@dowjones.com