PTAB accepts Bass’s toenail patent challenges
The Coalition for Affordable Drugs and Anacor Pharmaceuticals will face off in a dispute over the validity of two anti-fungal patents after the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) gave the go-ahead to two inter partes review petitions.
Anacor makes Kerydin (tavaborole), a cream used to treat toenail infections.
Two patents, US numbers, 7,767,657 and 7,582,621, are the subject of the IPRs. Both patents cover compounds in the cream that penetrate the nail, enabling the treatment of fungal infections.
On Tuesday, February 23, a three-judge panel on the PTAB said that the coalition’s IPRs had a reasonable likelihood of prevailing at trial.
The coalition, which is linked to hedge fund manager Kyle Bass, said the patents should be declared invalid on the grounds of obviousness.
The decision follows the PTAB’s decision to institute an IPR of the validity of a patent covering Pozen’s Vimovo (naproxen/esomeprazole magnesium) product.
Bass said yesterday, February 24, that he would keep up his controversial campaign of challenging patents at the PTAB, despite reportedly returning most of the $700 million raised by investors.
