ACI’s virtual Annual Passport to Proficiency on the Essentials of Hatch-Waxman and BPCIA equips early-career professionals with the legal and regulatory fluency needed to contribute meaningfully to product strategy and...more
The Federal Circuit recently affirmed a district court’s holding that patent term extension (PTE) for a reissued patent was properly based on the issue date of the original patent and not that of the reissued patent. The...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) recently considered a novel question regarding calculation of the regulatory review period for patent term extension (PTE) under 35 USC § 156 for reissued patents....more
Addressing the calculation of patent term extensions (PTEs) under the Hatch-Waxman Act, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a district court decision that under the act the issue date of the original...more
Early last year, Aurobindo, one of the Defendants* in ANDA litigation against Merck, advanced the proposition that in cases where a patent had been reissued patent term extension ("PTE") under 35 U.S.C. § 156 should be...more
On March 13, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a five-year patent term extension (“PTE”) for Merck’s sugammadex patent, holding that the district court had correctly calculated PTE based on the...more
On March 13, 2025, the Federal Circuit decided in Merck Sharp & Dohme B.V. v. Aurobindo Pharma USA, Inc. (No. 2023-2254) how patent term extensions (PTEs) apply to reissued patents under the Hatch-Waxman Act....more
The Federal Circuit heard oral argument in Auribundo's appeal of the district court's decision in favor of plaintiff Merck, in a case captioned In re Sugammadex (alternatively, Aurobindo v. Merck Sharp and Dohme). The issue...more
For branded drugmakers, the development of a pharmaceutical product approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) all but assures generic competition. As discussed during the first installment of our Hatch-Waxman series,...more
Patent term extension (PTE) under 35 U.S.C. § 156 is a statutory program that restores to a patent at least a portion of the term that was effectively lost while the covered product was undergoing regulatory review and could...more
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued its opinion in Allergan USA, Inc. v. MSN Laboratories Private Ltd., No. 24-1061 (Fed. Cir. 2024), holding that “a first-filed, first-issued, later-expiring claim cannot...more
Takeaways: 1. ODP in reexamination and reissue remains unpredictable despite Allergan 2. Patent Owners should carefully review ODP rejections to ensure they are proper Obviousness-type double patenting (ODP) is a legal...more
On January 19, 2024, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued an order denying the Petition for Rehearing En Banc in the much awaited In re Cellect matter. The mandate of the court issued today....more
On January 18, 2024, the USPTO rejected a "contingent" terminal disclaimer filed by Acadia Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Acadia) for a patent it owns that is being challenged in a pending litigation as invalid for obviousness-type...more
Gain a comprehensive understanding of Hatch-Waxman and BPCIA essentials, a critical competency for legal and business professionals in the biopharmaceutical arena. Attend ACI’s Hatch-Waxman and BPCIA Proficiency Series...more
Patent term extension (PTE) provides additional patent term for patents related to U.S. pharmaceutical products to compensate for the effective loss of patent term caused by delay during the drug approval process by the U.S....more
Patent term extension (PTE) is available under the 1984 Drug Price Competition and Patent Restoration Act, also known as the Hatch-Waxman Act (The Act). The Act allows the extension of the term of a patent claiming a product...more
The coronavirus global pandemic has ushered in extraordinary roadblocks for the pharmaceutical industry. To help you carve out a path forward, in-house senior executives and industry leaders will convene virtually at ACI’s...more
In Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp. v. Breckenridge Pharmaceutical Inc., Novartis scored another obviousness-type double patenting (OTDP) win when the Federal Circuit held that a post-URAA child patent could not be cited as an...more
This is the third article in our five-part series on PTE. Calculating a drug’s regulatory review period seems like it should be simple. The FDA even states that its regulatory review period determination is...more
This is the second article in our five-part series on PTE. Everywhere you look, patent term extension (PTE) is described using the “Rule of Ones:” one patent, one product, one PTE. However, the Rule of Ones does not...more
Patent term extension is a valuable tool that drug manufacturers should consider, even when their products are not new entities. Recent decisions from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, coupled with various court...more
There have been many voices raised in recent years against the patent system for a variety of political, policy, or personal reasons. Indeed, there is even a book entitled Don't File a Patent that sets out the authors'...more