Federal Circuit Decides “a Patient” is Not Restricted to a Single Patient

In the recent Braintree Labs v. Novel Labs, the Federal Circuit may have limited the value of composition for methods of treatment claims.  The patent-in-suit related to compositions for preparing the bowels of a patient ready for colonoscopy.  In particular, the claims were to a bowel prep composition “for inducing purgation of the colon of […]

Arguments by Analogy Can Win The Day For Generics Asserting Obviousness Defense

The Federal Circuit recently affirmed a decision by the District of New Jersey finding two patents owned by Hoffmann-La Roche invalid for obviousness.  The patents-at-issue in Hoffmann-La Roche v. Apotex Inc., No. 2013-1128, are directed to methods of treating osteoporosis through a once-monthly administration of ibandronate, commercially available as Boniva.  The Court applied surrogate testing […]

Hide-the-Ball Document Production No Longer Being Tolerated by Some Courts

It is a common practice in Hatch-Waxman and other civil litigation for parties to try to hide the ball in producing documents by interposing vague objections to document requests and then producing select documents subject to their vague objections.  Some courts are beginning to deem that such conditional responses to requests for production are not […]

Federal Circuit Affirms Decision Preventing Generic Lyrica, Finding Sparse Evidence of Obviousness

A three judge panel of the Federal Circuit recently affirmed the District of Delaware’s judgment of infringement and validity related to U.S. Patent No. 6,197,819 (owned by Northwestern University and licensed to Pfizer) covering the drug Lyrica, which treats seizures and certain types of nerve pain.  The decision effectively prevents a generic version of Lyrica […]

District of New Jersey Finds Settlement Without Reverse Payment Is Not Subject To Anti-Trust Scrutiny

On January 24, 2014, in In re Lamictal Direct Purchaser Antitrust Litigation, No. 12-cv-995, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9257 (D.N.J. Jan. 24, 2014), Senior District Judge William H. Walls dismissed a putative, antitrust-class action brought against GlaxoSmithKline LLC (“Glaxo”) and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (“Teva”) in response to their agreement postponing the production of lamotrigine, […]

Document Review Still Requires Attorney Involvement

The District of New Jersey recently refused to compel the return of inadvertently produced privileged documents despite a clawback provision in the protective order where the producing party relied on key word computer searches to screen for privilege without any further attorney review. In Shire LLC v. Amneal Pharmaceuticals, LLC, 2:11-cv-03781 (D.N.J. January 10, 2014), […]