The chemist alleges that he was left off of a patent for cortistatin A derivatives. Merck licensed the patent from Harvard for $20M.
Let’s see how this shakes out.
http://cen.acs.org/articles/95/web/2017/05/Researcher-sues-Harvard-for-drug-royalties.html
May 3, 2017
Acorda Therapeutics, Inc. is fighting is to extend the life of their 4-aminopyridine formulations and methods.
The US District Court in Delaware ruled that Acorda’s four patents set to expire between 2025 and 2027 are invalid. A few weeks earlier, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Patent Trials and Appeal Board (PTAB) upheld the four patents challenged via the inter partes review (IPR) process [U.S. Patent Nos. 8,663,685 (the ‘685 patent), 8,440,703 (the ‘703 patent), 8,354,437 (the ‘437 patent) and 8,007,826 (the ‘826 patent)]. These patents, if valid and enforceable, are calculated to expire in 2025, 2025, 2026 and 2027, respectively.
Case #: 14-882
Judge: Chief Judge Leonard P. Stark
Next?: Acorda will appeal. Meanwhile Acorda announced restructuring and layoffs
http://cen.acs.org/articles/95/i15/Troubled-biotechs-cut-jobs.html
Fierce Pharma
http://www.fiercepharma.com/pharma/court-nixes-4-acorda-patents-teeing-up-amprya-generics-for-2018
Acorda press releases
May 1, 2017
Prof. Kate Carroll of Scripps Research Institute extended covalent drug discovery to cysteine-oxidized proteins by developing a library of nucleophilic drug candidates. For example, Prof. Carroll provided pyrolidinedione nucleophiles that react with protein tyrosine phosphatases.
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/cen-09517-notw7
April 25, 2017
April – 2017
Syngenta says a U.S. district court has found that the agrochemical maker Willowood infringed two Syngenta patents relating to the fungicide azoxystrobin. Damages for the infringement will be assessed at a trial later this year.
Solvay has won a patent infringement lawsuit in China against the Yantai-based firm Sunshow Specialty Chemical. The suit involved an ultraviolet stabilizer for thermoplastic olefins produced by Solvay’s Cytec Industries subsidiary.
According to Science (2017, DOI: 10.1126/science.aal0010), 10% of NIH Grants Directly Lead to Patents. Meanwhile, 30% of NIH grants are cited in patent applictions. (See “By the numbers” – C&EN, 2017, 95 (14), pp 21–21April 3, 2017.)
Final Decision – March 31, 2017
Link to PDF: https://ptabdata.uspto.gov/ptab-api/documents/663936/native
March 27, 2017
C&ENews Article Link:
http://cen.acs.org/articles/95/i13/Biogens-patent-Tecfidera-upheld.html?type=paidArticleContent
A pair of PTAB disputes between Pharmacosmos A/S v. Luitpold Parms. Inc should be interesting read. I’ll follow up with more detail.
Vertex acquired rights to Concert Pharmaceuticals’s cystic fibrosis drug CTP-656. The drug is a deuterated version of Vertex’s own compound ivacaftor, which it sells under the name Kalydeco.
CTP-656 Currently in Phase II clinical trials. The deal avoided a potential litigation between the two companies.
