PTAB upholds Biogen’s MS drug patent

A Biogen patent covering the drug Tecfidera (dimethyl fumarate) has been  upheld by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), after a challenge from Kyle Bass’s Coalition for Affordable Drugs.

Tecfidera is a treatment for patients suffering from multiple sclerosis.

The decision, which was handed down on Tuesday, March 21, held that the coalition failed to prove that US patent number 8,399,514 was obvious and therefore did not show that it was unpatentable.

“To prevail in this inter partes review (IPR) of the challenged claims, petitioner must prove unpatentability by a preponderance of the evidence,” said the PTAB in its decision.

It added: “We conclude that petitioner has failed to show by a preponderance of the evidence that claims 1-20 of the ‘514 patent are unpatentable.”

The case arose after the Coalition for Affordable Drugs filed a  second petition seeking to institute the IPR in March 2016, after its first petition had been denied.

The PTAB agreed to institute the review after a board panel found there was a “reasonable likelihood” that the coalition would prevail on the claims and grounds raised in the petition.

Earlier this month, Kyle Bass’s coalition also  lost an IPR of patents covering Ampyra (dalfampridine), a drug manufactured by Acorda Therapeutics.

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