Transcept, partner sue to protect new sleep drug from generic competitors

Transcept CEO Glenn Oclassen.

Four months after launching a middle-of-the-night sleep drug, Transcept Pharmaceuticals Inc. and partner Purdue Pharma are facing down generic competitors. Units of Actavis Group and Watson Laboratories filed abbreviated new drug applications with the Food and Drug Administration in July to sell generic versions of Intermezzo tablets, Richmond-based Transcept (NASDAQ: TSPT) said in a Tuesday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Transcept and Purdue, which sells Intermezzo, on Aug. 23 filed a patent infringement suit against Actavis in U.S. District Court in New Jersey. They filed another suit Monday against Parsippany, N.J.-based Watson.