English High Court revokes Medac patent
The English High Court has invalidated Medac Gesellschaft’s patent covering its Metoject PEN syringe, the first patent decision handed down by the court in 2016.
Generics company Accord Healthcare challenged the patent on the grounds that it was obvious. It was seeking to clear the way so that it could market a generic version of the injectable product, used to treat inflammatory autoimmune diseases.
The disputed European patent, number 2,046,332, covers the injection of a higher concentration of methotrexate, abou t 50mg instead of just 25mg.
In a judgment issued on January 13, Mr Justice Birss ruled that the patent was obvious.
“Standing back, there is really nothing surprising about this conclusion,” Birss wrote.
“It would be wrong in principle if a patent was upheld when the invention was obvious to such a team [clinician and formulator]. Real persons skilled in the art are entitled to make obvious developments without fear of infringing patents,” Birss added.
