Hikma Pharmaceuticals hiked by court colchicine ruling

A US court has given Hikma Pharmaceuticals permission to distribute its colchicine gout treatment, turning down rival Takeda Pharmaceuticals in its appeal for an injunction against the distribution of the drugs.The injunction, which was granted to Takeda on 9 October 2014, has been vacated following the District of Delaware's decision.Hikma, which is eyeing a potential promotion into the FTSE 100 this year, said it will now prepare to distribute its colchicine products, which it will market under the brand name Mitigare. The group will also release a generic version of the drug, used to prevent gout flares in adults."I am very pleased to be launching our colchicine products, demonstrating our success in developing a more differentiated product portfolio for the US market," said chairman Said Darwazah.Sales of colchicine in the US market were about $688m for the year ended August 2014 and broker JP Morgan Cazenove said recently that US colchicine launch upside for the company "could potentially be worth circa £2 per share".