It’s that time of year when we make resolutions to improve our health, our relationships, our careers, or other areas of our lives. I’m not starting a new diet today (although if I were, the invention described in this patent...more
1/2/2018
/ Claim Construction ,
Foreign Patent Applications ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Mayo v. Prometheus ,
Patent Applications ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patent Ownership ,
Patent Trial and Appeal Board ,
Patent-Eligible Subject Matter ,
Patents ,
Pharmaceutical Patents ,
SCOTUS ,
USPTO
The Federal Circuit has issued its final decision in the biosimilar patent litigation between Amgen and Sandoz over the first product to be approved under the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act (BPCIA). Not...more
12/27/2017
/ Amgen ,
Biosimilars ,
BPCIA ,
Patent Dance ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patents ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Pharmaceutical Patents ,
Preemption ,
Sandoz ,
Sandoz v Amgen ,
Unfair Competition
While Congress is trying to pass a tax reform bill that would cut corporate taxes, USPTO patent fees will increase effective January 16, 2018. The 72% jump in the Inter Partes Review request fee has gotten the most attention,...more
In a non-precedential decision issued in Merck Sharp & Dohme B.V., v. Warner Chilcott Co. LLC, the Federal Circuit reversed the district court’s obviousness ruling as being improperly grounded in hindsight. This decision...more
The October 5, 2017 Federal Circuit decision in Amgen Inc. v. Sanofi is getting a lot of attention for its commercial impact, because the court vacated the permanent injunction that prevented Sanofi and Regeneron from...more
In Ex Parte Timothy, the USPTO Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) affirmed the Examiner’s rejection of personalized medicine treatment claims. This decision highlights the PTAB’s willingness to invalidate claims that it...more
10/7/2017
/ Appeals ,
Innovation ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Mayo v. Prometheus ,
Patent Trial and Appeal Board ,
Patent-Eligible Subject Matter ,
Patents ,
Personalized Medicine ,
Pharmaceutical Patents ,
Product of Nature Doctrine ,
Section 101 ,
USPTO
In Amgen Inc. v. Hospira, Inc., the Federal Circuit held that Amgen could not obtain discovery related to activities that might infringe a patent that it had not asserted in its biosimilar patent litigation against Hospira....more
8/31/2017
/ Amgen ,
Appeals ,
Biosimilars ,
BPCIA ,
Collateral Order Doctrine ,
FDA Approval ,
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure ,
FRCP 11 ,
Hospira ,
Judicial Review ,
Motion to Compel ,
Patent Dance ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patents ,
Pharmaceutical Patents ,
Writ of Mandamus
In a 38 page decision with a 19 page dissent by Judge Newman, the Federal Circuit determined that Regeneron’s transgenic mouse patent is unenforceable due to inequitable conduct. The decision was rendered in Regeneron...more
8/4/2017
/ Adverse Inference Instructions ,
Appeals ,
But For Causation ,
Discovery ,
Due Process ,
Fourteenth Amendment ,
Inequitable Conduct ,
Intent ,
Materiality ,
Patent Invalidity ,
Patent Prosecution ,
Patents ,
Pharmaceutical Patents ,
Sanctions ,
USPTO
In Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. v. Sandoz, the Federal Circuit reversed the district court decision that invalidated one of the Orange Book-listed patents covering the anti-cancer drug Velcade. In so doing, the court...more
I’ve written previously about sequential PTAB challenges to the same patent, but the dispute between Coherus Biosciences Inc. and AbbVie Biotechnology Ltd. has engendered six Inter Partes Review proceedings against the same...more
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California invalidated several dietary supplement product and method patents as being directed to ineligible subject matter, even though they claimed products providing a...more
7/12/2017
/ Biotechnology ,
CLS Bank v Alice Corp ,
Dietary Supplements ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Myriad-Mayo ,
Patent Invalidity ,
Patent-Eligible Subject Matter ,
Patents ,
Pharmaceutical Patents ,
Product of Nature Doctrine ,
Section 101
In Sandoz Inc. v. Amgen Inc. (which you can read more about here), the Supreme Court held that 42 USC § 262(l)(9)(C) sets forth the exclusive federal remedy for failing to provide a copy of the biosimilar application to the...more
6/29/2017
/ Amgen ,
Appeals ,
Biosimilars ,
BPCIA ,
Commercial Marketing ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Exclusive Remedy ,
Patent Dance ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patents ,
Pharmaceutical Patents ,
Preemption ,
Remand ,
Sandoz ,
Sandoz v Amgen ,
SCOTUS ,
State Law Claims ,
Supremacy Clause ,
Unfair Competition
The Federal Circuit decision in Cleveland Clinic Foundation v. True Health Diagnostics LLC, strikes another blow against the patent eligibility of diagnostic methods and highlights the difficulty of enforcing personalized...more
The U.S. Supreme Court rendered its first interpretations of the biosimilar patent dispute resolution procedures of the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act (BPCIA), ruling largely in favor of Sandoz on both issues...more
6/13/2017
/ Amgen ,
Biologics ,
Biosimilars ,
BPCIA ,
Content Marketing ,
Dispute Resolution ,
FDA Approval ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
IP License ,
Notice Requirements ,
Patent Dance ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patents ,
Pharmaceutical Patents ,
Preemption ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Sandoz ,
Sandoz v Amgen ,
SCOTUS ,
State Law Claims ,
Unfair Competition
The Supreme Court could issue its decision in the Amgen v. Sandoz biosimilar patent dance case any day now. Last week I participated in a panel discussion with industry stakeholders considering how the decision might–or might...more
6/12/2017
/ Amgen ,
Biologics ,
Biosimilars ,
BPCIA ,
Commercial Marketing ,
Inter Partes Review (IPR) Proceeding ,
License Applications ,
Life Sciences ,
Notice Requirements ,
Patent Dance ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patents ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Pharmaceutical Patents ,
Preponderance of the Evidence ,
Sandoz ,
Sandoz v Amgen ,
SCOTUS
In Mylan Institutional LLC v. Aurobindo Pharma Ltd., the Federal Circuit reviewed a preliminary injunction based in part on a finding of likelihood of success in establishing infringement under the doctrine of equivalents....more
In a non-precedential decision issued in Braintree Labs., Inc. v. Breckenridge Pharmaceutical, Inc., the Federal Circuit reversed the district court’s grant of summary judgment of noninfringement in favor of Breckenridge, and...more
5/30/2017
/ Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) ,
Appeals ,
CAFC ,
Claim Construction ,
Induced Infringement ,
Noninfringement ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patents ,
Pharmaceutical Patents ,
Product Labels ,
Reversal ,
Summary Judgment
In Helsinn Healthcare S.A. v. Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc., the Federal Circuit found that a publicly-announced “Supply and Purchase” agreement triggered the on-sale bar under pre-AIA 35 USC § 102(b) and under AIA 35 USC §...more
In Novartis AG v. Torrent Pharmaceuticals Ltd., the Federal Circuit affirmed the decision of the USPTO Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) invalidating all claims of U.S. Patent 8,324,283, which is one of four Orange...more
4/25/2017
/ FDA Approval ,
Final Written Decisions ,
Inter Partes Review (IPR) Proceeding ,
Nexus ,
Novartis ,
Obviousness ,
Orange Book ,
Patent Invalidity ,
Patent Trial and Appeal Board ,
Patents ,
Pharmaceutical Patents ,
Substantial Evidence Standard
In The Medicines Co. v. Mylan, Inc., the Federal Circuit construed composition claims of two Angiomax patents as requiring the recited “batches” to be made by a specific “efficient mixing” process illustrated in one of the...more
Judge Sleet of the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware has dismissed Genentech’s complaint against Amgen for allegedly failing to comply with the the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act (BPCIA), but...more
3/10/2017
/ aBLA ,
Amgen ,
Biosimilars ,
BPCIA ,
Dismissals ,
Genentech ,
Information Sharing ,
Patent Dance ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patents ,
Pharmaceutical Patents ,
Subject Matter Jurisdiction
In the latest dispute surrounding the “patent dance” provisions of the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act (BPCIA), Genentech, Inc. has filed a complaint against Amgen, Inc., alleging that after opting into the...more
2/24/2017
/ aBLA ,
Biologics ,
Biosimilars ,
BPCIA ,
Confidential Information ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Generic Drugs ,
Injunctive Relief ,
Motion to Compel ,
Patent Dance ,
Patent Infringement ,
Pharmaceutical Patents
The Federal Circuit focused on the “consisting of” language in the claims at issue when it reversed the district court’s finding that Watson’s ANDA product would infringe the only Orange Book-listed Shire Lialda patent. In so...more
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to review some of the patent dispute resolution provisions of the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act (BPCIA). The Court granted certiorari in the dispute between Amgen and Sandoz,...more
1/19/2017
/ Amgen ,
Biosimilars ,
BPCIA ,
Certiorari ,
Commercial Marketing ,
Declaratory Judgments ,
License Applications ,
Notice Requirements ,
Patent Dance ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patents ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Pharmaceutical Patents ,
Remedies ,
Sandoz ,
Sandoz v Amgen ,
SCOTUS ,
Solicitor General
On November 30, 2016, the USPTO Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) held oral hearings in two different inter partes proceedings involving the Biogen Tecfidera® patent with the latest expiation date. First, it heard...more