Obviousness and NSDP Tests

The Federal Circuit Refines Patentability Requirements in pharmaceutical and Chemical Technologies A decision from the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals has refined what is required to show obviousness and anticipation in a pharmaceutical patent.  The patent involved lacosamide, an amino acid-like drug used in epilepsy treatment, shown below: Accord, a generic drug manufacturer, submitted an […]

Read More

New Patent Eligibility Guidelines Require Evidence of Routine, Conventional, or Well-Known Knowledge

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office recently issued new guidelines to determine patent eligibility.  For years after Alice,[i] Mayo,[ii] and Myriad,[iii] software and biotechnology patent applicants have had difficulty patenting many inventions, particularly in the trending “personalized medicine” field where patient genetics and proteomics are considered when selecting treatment regimens.

Read More

Updates in Patent-Eligible Subject Matter

The Federal Circuit recently issued a much needed development in patentability case law, in Vanda Pharma. Inc. v. West-Ward Pharma. Int’l Ltd.[i]  Beginning in 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court upended years of patent law regarding patentable subject matter in biotechnology, relying on earlier case law stating natural laws and natural phenomena were not patent eligible […]

Read More

Pharmaceutical Patents

Aprecia Pharmaceuticals LLC has been marketing the drug levetiracetam under the name Spirtam®, as an anti-seizure.  What caught my attention was the carrier for the drug, which was printed using an additive manufacturing technique, also known as 3D printing.  This technology has been widely publicized over the last few years, and used to make automotive […]

Read More