By Memorandum Opinion entered in Galderma Laboratories Inc., et al. v. Amneal Pharmaceuticals, LLC, et al., C.A. No. 11-1106-LPS (D.Del., September 7, 2012), the Honorable Leonard P. Stark granted defendants’ motion for partial judgment on the pleadings based on collateral estoppel after finding that the issue of whether a product containing 40 mg of doxycycline, administered once daily, infringes U.S. Patent Nos. 7,232,572 and 7,211,267 (referred to as the “Ashley patents”) was previously litigated and decided against the Galderma plaintiffs in a related ANDA action captioned Research Found. of State Univ. of New York v. Mylan Pharms. Inc., 809 F. Supp.2d 896 (D.Del. 2011) (referred to as the “Mylan Action”). In doing so, the Court found that the four elements necessary for collateral estoppel to properly apply were established by defendants in their motion and/or conceded by the Galderma plaintiffs: (1) the previous determination was necessary to the decision; (2) the identical issue was previously litigated; (3) the issue was actually decided on the merits and the decision was final and valid; and (4) the party being precluded from re-litigating the issue was adequately represented in the previous action. Id. at 3-8.

A complete copy of the Memorandum Opinion is attached.