 Shire, under boss Matthew Emmens, is in talks with US firm Barr |
Drugs firm Shire Pharmaceuticals has said it has held talks with US company Barr about settling a patent dispute over one of its best-selling drugs. The British company was forced to clarify the position after its shares rose more than 6% on Thursday on speculation about a settlement.
Shire is currently suing Barr to stop it launching a generic version of its hyperactivity drug Adderall.
Shire said it was considering all options relating to the legal action.
Worldwide sales of Adderall totalled $600m last year.
Early discussions
The firm has vowed to defend its patent on the drug - a treatment for attention deficit disorder - which runs out in 2018.
 |  Shire confirms that there have been very preliminary discussions with Barr |
Shire said on Friday that it had not ruled out settling its litigation or reaching an agreement with Barr Pharmaceuticals to allow the firm to market a cheaper version of Adderall in the US before 2018.
"Shire confirms that there have been very preliminary discussions with Barr," it said in a statement.
"Given the very preliminary nature of the discussions, it is not possible to form any judgement as to the likelihood of reaching any agreement."
Shire's market value rose by more than �250m on Thursday in anticipation of a settlement between the two firms.
The Hampshire-based company is one of the UK's leading specialist pharmaceutical firms.
It has operations across Europe as well as in the US and Canada.
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