In the biggest gain since May 9, the shares of Barr rose $1.97, or 4.8 percent, to $42.91 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.
The Leverkusen-based firm Bayer, the drug company that makes Yasmin and Yaz, and Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc. will market generic Yasmin and Yaz solely in the U.S. The two drugs differ slightly in their dose.
Generic Yasmin will launch on or before July 1. Generic Yaz is expected on July 1, 2011.
Barr will pay Bayer an undisclosed supply price for the products. Bayer would however continue to pursue an appeal of the New Jersey decision in March and if successful, it would receive a larger share of Barr's revenues from generic Yasmin.
Barr, the second-biggest U.S. maker of birth-control pills behind Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc., filed for U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval in January 2005 to sell a generic version. In March, a New Jersey Court decision invalidated Bayer's U.S. patent for Yasmin.
In order to limit the revenue erosion of its franchise, Bayer struck a deal with Barr, providing the generics manufacturer with the rights to market a licensed generic of Yasmin, which it will sell in the U.S. under its own label.
The FDA gave its approval for Barr to sell its generic Yasmin product in May. Generic drugs typically cost less than brand-name drugs. Yasmin consists of drospirenone and ethinyl estradiol and it yielded $1.6 billion of revenues in 2007.
