U.S. drug regulators gave the nod to a Teva Pharmaceutical Industries drug that boosts the production of infection-fighting white blood cells in certain cancer patients receiving chemotherapy. Teva’s medicine is in many ways a copy of Amgen Inc’s biologic drug Neupogen, which faces the expiration of its U.S. patent next year. In an a settlement of patent litigation, Teva agreed last year to refrain from launching its versions of Neupogen and Neulasta, Amgen’s longer-lasting white blood cell booster, in the United States until November 2013.
