Bass set for first IPR trial as Shire petition proceeds
Hedge fund manger Kyle Bass has secured his first inter partes review (IPR) trial after the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) instituted a challenge against a patent owned by biopharmaceutical company Shire.
On Wednesday, October 7, a three-judge panel ruled that there was a reasonable likelihood that Bass would prevail in invalidating the patent at trial. The petition was filed by the Coalition for Affordable Drugs, an organisation closely linked with Bass.
At the centre of the dispute is US patent number 6,773,720, which covers the Lialda(mesalamine) drug, used to treat patients suffering from Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.
The patent is owned by Cosmo Technologies, a subsidiary of Shire, and is due to expire in 2020.
In its argument against a petition being instituted, Shire said that not all relevant parties involved in the claim had been publicly disclosed.
The PTAB rejected this claim. While the three-judge panel said there is a “blurring among the sister entities in terms of corporate structure”, it said there is not enough evidence that the “sister entity has controlled, or had the ability to control, the filing of the petition in this case”.
Bass has argued that the patent is obvious, and the PTAB agreed it is possible that the patent will be invalidated at trial.
It is the first time Bass has succeeded in instituting an IPR. The PTAB rejected challenges to patents owned by Biogen and Acorda Therapeutics in August and September respectively.
It means the three judges will decide at trial whether the patent is valid.
