Latest News & Features
Americas
The US Supreme Court in a landmark decision held that a DNA molecule is potentially eligible for patenting in the US if its sequence does not occur in nature, but is not patent-eligible if its sequence is identical to a
naturally occurring DNA sequence. 28 June 2013
Europe
The law of patents and SPCs has yet to be tested in the context of medicines which can be used to treat specific groups of patients, as Paul England explains. 28 June 2013
Asia
Pharmaceutical company Merck has secured a preliminary injunction against Indian drug company Aprica after it tried to market generic versions of the branded diabetes drug Januvia. 25 June 2013
Big Pharma
Global drug companies Actavis and Teva both launched generic versions of Viagra immediately after its patent expired in several European countries last week. 24 June 2013
Americas
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit concluded on June 18 that Novo Nordisk’s patent covering diabetes treatment repaglinide is invalid. 21 June 2013
Big Pharma
The European Commission’s competition directorate has levied fines totalling €146 million ($195 million) against originator pharmaceutical company Lundbeck and several producers of generics drugs. 20 June 2013
Americas
A majority of the US Supreme Court has ruled that the US Federal Trade Commission should be able to challenge so-called ‘pay-for-delay’ patent litigation settlements on antitrust grounds. 17 June 2013
Americas
Generic drug-makers Teva Pharmaceutical and Sun Pharmaceutical have agreed to pay a combined $2.15 billion to settle a patent infringement case over Pfizer’s heartburn drug Protonix. 14 June 2013
Americas
The US Supreme Court has ruled that isolated human DNA is not patent eligible and has struck down patents owned by biotech company Myriad, ending a long-running and controversial case. 13 June 2013
Asia-Pacific
India’s Intellectual Property Appellate Board has set aside a decision revoking a Pfizer-licensed patent directed to cancer drug Sutent. 7 June 2013