Biotech news
Americas
Law firm Reed Smith has hired Nicolas Barzoukas and Josh Davis as partners in the firm’s intellectual property, information and innovation practice group in Houston. 31 March 2016
Americas
No patent application directed to CRISPR has yet fallen foul of the EU’s Biotech Directive on the basis of the human embryo use exception, but the technology is still in its nascent stage. Ashley Roughton of Nabarro reports. 31 March 2016
Americas
Biotechnology company Thermo Fisher Scientific said its potential merger with genomics company Affymetrix is its preferred option to another potential deal. 29 March 2016
Pharma
Despite a large body of EPO case law accepting second medical use claims that recite a novel technical effect, all eyes are on how courts in EPC member states will deal with infringement cases arising from such patents. Joachim Wachenfeld and Oswin Ridderbusch of Vossius & Partner report. 24 March 2016
Americas
Sequenom has urged the US Supreme Court to hear its patent dispute with Ariosa Diagnostics. 22 March 2016
Americas
A US court has ruled that two patents covering the Repatha drug, owned by biotechnology company Amgen, are valid. 18 March 2016
Americas
Law firm Perkins Coie has hired Mark Wicker as a partner in the firm’s technology transactions and privacy practice in San Diego. 18 March 2016
Americas
Law firm Proskauer Rose has expanded its life sciences patent practice by hiring Fangli Chen as a partner and Daniel Klein as a senior patent counsel. 16 March 2016
Americas
The US Food and Drug Administration has appointed Stephen Ostroff to deputy commissioner for food and veterinary medicine. 10 March 2016
Biotech
The English High Court has allowed Japan-based drug maker Fujifilm Kyowa Kirin Biologics to amend some of its arguments in a patent dispute surrounding AbbVie’s arthritis drug Humira. 8 March 2016