Litigation

Elbit Imaging Ltd. (Nasdaq: EMITF) announced, further to the Company's announcement dated March 20, 2013, that it has received a notice from Bank Leumi le-Israel B.M. (the "Bank"), which the Company vigorously reject, stating that the Bank plans to exercise its rights to withdraw the securities deposited by the Company in its securities accounts with the Bank as security for the Company's obligations to the Bank (and which has market price value equals to approximately NIS 8 million (approximately $2.2 million)), and sell such securities to partially offset the Company's outstanding obligations to the Bank in the approximate amount of $12.9 million. The Company denies the Bank's rights and in particular, its claim that allegedly, the Bank holds the securities as a security.

In addition, the Company has received a series of notices from the Bank stating that, beginning May 27, 2013, the Bank will terminate the credit lines provided by the Bank to certain accounts maintained by the Company and two of its subsidiaries at the Bank and that following such date any outstanding interest remaining in such accounts will begin accruing interest at an extraordinary rate, despite the fact that those subsidiaries have credit balance in those accounts. The Company intends to vigorously reject and defend such claims and demands.

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: REGN) has entered into agreements with Genentech, Inc. relating to the worldwide sales of EYLEA® (aflibercept) Injection and ZALTRAP® (ziv-aflibercept) Injection for Intravenous Infusion (also known as aflibercept outside of the United States). These agreements resolve all pending litigation with Genentech over EYLEA and ZALTRAP worldwide.

EYLEA Agreement

Regeneron and Genentech entered into an Amended and Restated Non-Exclusive License and Settlement Agreement, effective as of May 17, 2013 (the “Amended Agreement”), which amended their Non-Exclusive License and Partial Settlement Agreement, dated December 31, 2011 (the “Original Agreement”), relating to the sales of EYLEA in the United States to now include all sales of EYLEA worldwide. Under the Amended Agreement, Regeneron received a worldwide non-exclusive license to certain patents relating to VEGF receptor proteins, known as the Davis Smyth patents, and certain other patents, for the prevention or treatment of eye diseases and eye disorders in a human through administration of EYLEA to the eye (the “ocular field”). The Davis-Smyth patents are the subject of patent litigation between Regeneron and Genentech relating to EYLEA, now pending in the United States District Court, Southern District of New York, which will be dismissed pursuant to the Amended Agreement. Regeneron will make payments to Genentech based on sales of EYLEA in the United States and EYLEA manufactured in the United States and sold outside the United States through May 7, 2016 using the same milestone and royalty rates as in the Original Agreement. EYLEA is sold outside the United States by affiliates of Bayer HealthCare LLC under a license and collaboration agreement (the “Bayer Agreement”).

Under the Original Agreement, a $60 million milestone payment was made when cumulative U.S. sales reached $400 million, and Regeneron is obligated to pay royalties of 4.75% on cumulative relevant sales of EYLEA between $400 million and $3 billion and 5.5% on any cumulative relevant sales of EYLEA over $3 billion. All payments to Genentech under the Original Agreement and the Amended Agreement are made by Regeneron. Bayer HealthCare will share in all such payments based on the proportion of ex-U.S. EYLEA sales to worldwide EYLEA sales and determined consistent with the Bayer Agreement.

ZALTRAP Agreement
Regeneron, Genentech, Sanofi U.S. Services, Inc. and Sanofi-Aventis U.S. LLC (the latter two entities, collectively, “Sanofi”) entered into a Non-Exclusive License and Settlement Agreement, effective as of May 17, 2013 (the “Zaltrap Agreement”), under which Regeneron and Sanofi (Regeneron’s global marketing partner for ZALTRAP) received a worldwide non-exclusive license to the Davis-Smyth patents, and certain other patents, in all indications for human use other than the ocular field. The Davis-Smyth patents are the subject of patent litigation between Sanofi, Regeneron and Genentech relating to ZALTRAP now pending in the United States District Court, Southern District of New York, which will be dismissed pursuant to the ZALTRAP Agreement.

(Updated - May 20, 2013 3:31 PM EDT)

Cubist Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: CBST) spiked to session highs on Monday. The move appears relates to a Markman patent ruling related Hospira (NYSE: HSP), which has a generic version of Cubist's drug Cubicin.

Apple, Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) today released a statement which will be read by CEO Tim Cook as he, CFO Peter Oppenheimer, and tax operations head Phillip Bullock, head to Washington to testify in front of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.

Cook and company will be defending Apple's corporate tax practices, which has seen the company house over $100 billion overseas to avoid larger tax burdens.

Apple said it had been working with the subcommittee over the last few months. The company said that it paid $6 billion in federal corporate income tax last year and expects to pay $7 billion this year. The company also stated that it "does not use tax gimmicks."

Apple will also state that it supports comprehensive reform of the US corporate tax system. From the statement, "The Company supports a dramatic simplification of the corporate tax system that is revenue neutral, eliminates all tax expenditures, lowers tax rates and implements a reasonable tax on foreign earnings that allows free movement of capital back to the US. Apple believes such comprehensive reform would stimulate economic growth. Apple supports this plan even though it would likely result in Apple paying more US corporate tax."

Shares of Apple are up 2.7 percent Monday.

According to reports in the New York Times, the US, EU, and China are in negotiations over solar panel anti-dumping cases. A plan is taking shape that would "carve up the global solar panel market into a series of regional markets."

If negations are successful, tariffs in the U.S. could be replaced.

The news comes amid a massive rally in solar stocks today. First Solar, Inc. (Nasdaq: FSLR), SolarCity Corporation (Nasdaq: SCTY), LDK Solar Co., Ltd. (NYSE: LDK), JA Solar Holdings Co., Ltd. (Nasdaq: JASO), and Real Goods Solar, Inc. (Nasdaq: RSOL) are among gainers.