Federal Circuit confirms Genzyme patents as invalid
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit decided on June 14 that the two patents involved in a dispute between Biomarin Pharmaceuticals and Genzyme Therapeutic Products are unpatentable due to being obvious.
The case was an appeal from decisions of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.
Biomarin claimed that the two patents, US patent numbers 7,351,410 and 7,655,226, which are owned by Genzyme, are invalid as they are obvious.
The patents, titled “Treatment of Pompe’s Disease”, are protections for an injection containing human acid α-glucosidase which are directed to treating Pompe’s disease.
Pompe’s disease is a genetic condition associated with a deficiency or absence of lysosomal enzyme acid α-glucosidase, which in a healthy individual would break down glycogen to glucose.
The inability to do this results in glycogen accumulating in the muscles in excessive amounts.
In 2013, Biomarin filed petitions requesting inter partes review of the ‘410 and ‘226 patents.
The board reviewed the two patents, saying they were obvious based on a press release and several references.
On the contrary, Genzyme, who owns the patents, argued that because of its combination of references described in the experiments, a person of ordinary skill would not find those experiments obvious.
The board’s findings were reaffirmed by the Federal Circuit, which concluded that a person of ordinary skill would have had a reasonable expectation of success based on the combination of references argued for in court.
Already registered?
Login to your account
If you don't have a login or your access has expired, you will need to purchase a subscription to gain access to this article, including all our online content.
For more information on individual annual subscriptions for full paid access and corporate subscription options please contact us.
To request a FREE 2-week trial subscription, please signup.
NOTE - this can take up to 48hrs to be approved.
For multi-user price options, or to check if your company has an existing subscription that we can add you to for FREE, please email Adrian Tapping at atapping@newtonmedia.co.uk