PTAB grants rehearing of Genentech patent IPR

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) has agreed to rehear an inter partes review (IPR) filed by Hospira, a company now owned by Pfizer.

On Thursday, October 26, the PTAB agreed to reconsider its decision to deny institution of an IPR petition challenging US patent number 7,846,441, owned by Genentech.

The patent relates to trastuzumab, a breast cancer therapy sold under the brand name Herceptin by Genentech.

According to Hospira, the ‘441 patent is invalid as obvious in light of three articles written by Baselga et al.

In its previous decision, the board declined to institute the IPR.

“Petitioner does not present additional evidence or persuasive arguments in this proceeding for us to reach a different conclusion with respect to Baselga ‘97,” said the PTAB.

The PTAB, in its latest decision to grant the IPR, focused its analysis on the “reasonable likelihood of prevailing in showing the obviousness of at least one challenged claim over the combination of Baselga ‘96 and Baselga ‘94”.

“Upon reconsidering the current record, we determine petitioner has established a reasonable likelihood that it would prevail on this assertion at least in relation to claim 1,” said the board.

Hospira has also filed other IPRs against Genentech, challenging certain claims of US patent number 7,892,549, which is in the same family as the ‘441 patent.

The ‘441 patent is also the subject of an IPR petition filed by biopharmaceutical company Celltrion. The petition has been instituted by the PTAB.

Kirkland & Ellis represented Pfizer.

Did you enjoy reading this story?  Sign up to our free newsletters and get stories like this sent straight to your inbox.