As Pfizer prepares to defend its patent on its transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy (ATTR-CM) drug tafamidis in court this week, analysts say eleventh-hour settlements with two of the three generic drug makers involved could bode well for both the New York drugmaker and rival BridgeBio.
Pfizer’s lawsuit against Dexel Pharma was dismissed without incident late last week, according to an April 24 filing with the Delaware District Court. By April 25, Cipla had similarly settled, and the Delaware court had dismissed the Pfizer lawsuit “without prejudice,” Evercore ISI analysts said in a note.
Dexel, a private Israeli generic drug maker, was approaching the case from a slightly different angle, as it is the only company that has already acknowledged infringing Pfizer’s ‘441 tafamidis patent, but the case involving Cipla and Hikma focuses on patent infringement and invalidity, Leerink analysts noted in an April 24 note to clients.
Further details surrounding the settlement remain unclear, and the specific year of generic entry agreed upon by the drug companies is unclear. However, the Evercore team noted that a date beyond 2030 or 2031 would be a “significant relief” to Pfizer’s business.
In all three lawsuits, Pfizer alleges infringement of its ‘441 patent, which expires in August 2035. Given that Cipla and Hikma asserted the same claims, Mizuho Securities analysts believe that the Cipla settlement “increases the likelihood” that a settlement with Hikma will follow as well.
Pfizer sells Tafamizi only as the high-dose Vindamax in the U.S. after pulling a lower-dose version of Vyndaquel from the market last year. The company’s tafamidis franchise posted global sales of $6.3 billion in 2025, reflecting 17% growth compared to 2024 and helping offset the coronavirus-induced sales slowdown across Pfizer’s large product portfolio.
Pushing generics to Pfizer’s blockbuster heart drug is also in BridgeBio’s interests. The company sells a competing oral TTR stabilizer called Attruby. BridgeBio stock was trading at $76.56, up 4.5% at the time of publication Monday morning.
“While some unknowns remain, including a firm launch date and the impact on other generic applicants, we believe the resolution of the tafamidis IP overhang will be a liquidation event for BBIO stock. This will put large institutional investors on the sidelines for launches in achondroplasia, ADH1 and LGMD2i in 2026/27,” Leerink analysts wrote, referring to BridgeBio’s other pipeline prospects.
When one of Pfizer’s tafamidis patents was revoked in Europe earlier this year, BridgeBio’s stock price also fell by 15%, as investors worried that early generic competition for the drug could put price pressure on Atruvy. As Leerink Partners analyst Mani Foruhar, M.D., told Fiers in an interview, generic drug availability for established drug companies “typically poses a reimbursement headwind, especially in European markets where there is comparative pricing.”
Still, other analysts said the stock’s move was an overreaction, with Jefferies analyst Andrew Tsai saying at the time that Atruvy could be a first-choice ATTR-CM option to differentiate it from Vindamax, and that BridgeBio’s new drug could match peak sales of $4 billion to $5 billion in 2034.
Atrubee had sales of $362 million in 2025. As of February 20, 2026, 7,804 prescriptions have been written for the drug since its launch in late 2024, according to BridgeBio. The launch momentum was due to its “differentiated profile as the only near-complete stabilizer on the market, continued prescribing growth, repeat use, and patient persistence that exceeded our expectations,” Chief Commercial Officer Matt Outen said at the time.
At launch, BridgeBio was priced at $18,759 for 28 days, or about $244,000 per year. Similarly, Pfizer charges about $268,000 a year for Vindamax before discounts.
