Breadth of Noven’s Claims to “Transdermal” Drug Delivery System Leads to Holding of Invalidity Under § 112

Enablement, Written description

Judge Stark of the District of Delaware invalidated three Noven patents directed to its Minivelle estrogen therapy patch under § 112, finding that each claim failed to enable and provide written description support for the full scope of the claim.  Noven Pharms., Inc. v. Amneal Pharms. LLC, No. 18-699 (D. Del. 2020).  Noven’s Minivelle product,…

Federal Circuit Confines Exception to Closed-Ended Interpretation of “Consisting of” Transition

Claim Construction, Consisting Of, Markman, Markush

On Friday, the Federal Circuit weighed in on the exception to the closed nature of the “consisting of” transition in patent claims, holding that the exception is more limited than perhaps previously thought.  In Shire Development, LLC v. Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc., the Federal Circuit reversed the district court’s infringement finding, holding that a claimed Markush…