02:17 PM EDT, 09/16/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Liquidia ( LQDA ) shares were climbing over 1% Monday after a federal judge sided with the biopharmaceutical company and a partner firm in their legal fight alleging United Therapeutics ( UTHR ) interfered with the company's bid to sell a generic version of United's Treprostinil treatment for pulmonary arterial hypertension.

US District Judge Brian Martinotti earlier this month handed down a $137.2 million award to Liquidia ( LQDA ) and Sandoz ( NVS ), the generic drugs subsidiary of Novartis ( NVS ) , which jointly sued United Therapeutics ( UTHR ) in 2019 alleging it used anticompetitive agreements to block the companies' planned launch of a generic Treprostinil injection.

The Sept. 6 opinion, however, reduced the damages award by $31.2 million from the $168.4 million in estimated lost income an industry expert calculated for the plaintiffs during a bench trial earlier this year, court records showed.

In his ruling, Judge Martinotti said, "the court further concludes that a reduction from [$137.2 million] is warranted." Liquidia ( LQDA ) said a final award has yet to be determined by the court.

Liquidia ( LQDA ), which will split the final award amount equally with Sandoz ( NVS ), did not immediately respond to a message from MT Newswires seeking additional information.

United Therapeutics ( UTHR ) also did not return a request for comment. Its shares were 1.7% higher in recent midday trading while Novartis ( NVS ) shares were up 0.9%.

Price: 9.93, Change: +0.13, Percent Change: +1.33