Last week, Carlson Caspers’ attorneys Caroline Marsili presented a CLE at the 2018 Midwest IP Institute addressing (1) subject matter eligibility under 35 U.S.C. § 101, (2) biosimilar applicants’ use of IPR proceedings and their standing to appeal PTAB decisions, and (3) the CRISPR patent battles. Slides from this presentation summarizing the state of the…
The Federal Circuit upheld a PTAB decision in which meeting materials published on the FDA website and linked to in a notice in the Federal Register (“Notice”) were sufficiently accessible to constitute “printed publication” prior art in Jazz Pharm. Inc. v Amneal Pharm. LLC, No. 2017-1671, 2018 WL 3400764 (Fed. Cir. July 13, 2018). The…
Last week, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (“FDA”) released a Biosimilars Action Plan (“BAP”) with the objective of promoting innovation, competition and affordability of biologics and biosimilar products. Characterizing the BAP as “an important piece of the Administration’s bold Blueprint to Lower Drug Prices,” the FDA underscored the need for a competitive market for…
Around the same time the Federal Circuit decided that a prospective ANDA customer lacked declaratory judgment standing in AIDS Healthcare, reported on here, it held that a prospective ANDA filer has standing to appeal a PTAB decision. In Altaire Pharmaceuticals, Inc. v. Paragon Bioteck, Inc., No. 2017-1487 (Fed. Cir. May 2, 2018), a sharply-divided panel found…
The Federal Circuit recently held that a healthcare provider did not have standing to bring a declaratory judgment action where its only interest was as a purchaser of potential generic versions of the patented drug. AIDS Healthcare Foundation v. Gilead Sciences, Inc., No. 2016-2475 (Fed. Cir. May 11, 2018). The court held that absent direct…
U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch, co-author of the Hatch-Waxman Act, recently proposed an amendment to the Act that would prevent generic drug companies from using any AIA post-grant procedure (IPR or PGR) on an Orange Book patent identified in their PIV certifications. The proposed amendment would require that the patent certification required under 21 USC §…
Less than two months after Andrei Iancu was confirmed as the new Director of the USPTO, the Office issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking concerning the claim construction standards employed in contested USPTO proceedings, including IRPs, PGRs, and CBMs. The proposed change would abandon the broadest reasonable construction standard currently used for unexpired patents in…
A divided Federal Circuit panel upheld Vanda’s patent covering its iloperidone schizophrenia treatment (Fanapt®), holding the method of treatment claims were directed to patent-eligible subject matter. Vanda Pharms. Inc., et al. v. West-Ward Pharms. Int’l Ltd., et al., Nos. 2016-2707, 2016-2708 (Fed. Cir. Apr. 13, 2018). In meticulously evading the Supreme Court’s Mayo decision, Vanda…
Two recent sets of decisions at the PTAB provide guidance on how to increase the likelihood of a petition being successful at instituting an IPR. The first set of decisions relate to the erectile dysfunction (ED) drug tadalafil (CIALIS®). In IPR2017-00323, Mylan successfully petitioned for an IPR against ICOS’s U.S. Patent No. 6,943,166, which claims,…
The Patent Trial and Appeal Board recently denied institution of inter partes review of two Allergan patents directed to a hyaluronic acid-based gel containing lidocaine. Teoxane S.A. v. Allergan, PLC, IPR2017-01906, Paper 15 (P.T.A.B. March 9, 2018); Teoxane S.A. v. Allergan, PLC, IPR2017-02002, Paper 14 (P.T.A.B. March 9, 2018). The patents at issue, U.S. Patent…