Cygnus Loses Arbitration on Estrogen Patch

Redwood City-based Cygnus Inc. said an international arbitration board rejected its claim that France’s Sanofi didn’t live up to a contract to market a hormone-delivery system in the United States and around the world. Arbitrators from the Tribunal of the International Chamber of Commerce concluded Sanofi didn’t fail to properly market FemPatch, which offers low doses of estrogen to menopausal women. Cygnus, a drug-delivery systems developer, licensed the Paris drug maker to make and market the patch internationally. Sanofi teamed with a Warner-Lambert unit to produce the patch, which won FDA approval last year, in the U.S. It’s scheduled to be on the market later this year. Cygnus shares declined 87.5 cents to close at $14.50 on Nasdaq.