Federal Circuit approves PTAB victory for Bass

NPS Pharmaceuticals suffered a knock-back yesterday, when the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a decision which found that claims covering a patent owned by NPS were unpatentable.

In October last year, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) found that all of the claims for US patent number 7,056,886 B2, which covers Gattex (teduglutide [rDNA origin]), were unpatentable due to obviousness.

Gattex is used for the treatment of short bowel syndrome.

Kyle Bass’s organisation, the Coalition for Affordable Drugs, had requested the inter partes review against NPS, which was acquired by Shire in 2015.

Claims 1−27, 3−40, 44−52 and 61−75 of the ‘886 patent were found to be unpatentable in two decisions issued by the PTAB.

At the time, the coalition’s representatives Merchant & Gould said: “This win for Kyle Bass’s group under the America Invents Act represents a significant milestone in the fight to clear the way for generic competition, which in turn can translate into cheaper drug prices for patients.”

Yesterday, November 15, Circuit Judges Prost, Dyk and Chen issued a non-precedential, one-line ruling that affirmed the PTAB’s decision.

Bass has also suffered setbacks, however. In March, we reported that the board upheld Acorda Therapeutics’ patents covering the drug Ampyra (dalfampridine), in a case against the Coalition for Affordable Drugs.

Bass was selected in the LSIPR 50 2017 publication for his influence on the life sciences industry. Click here to read his profile.

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