Latest News & Features
Americas
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has overturned a $100 million damages sum awarded to Medtronic Sofamor Danek in a long-fought patent case between the medical device maker and San Diego-based NuVasive. 4 March 2015
Americas
Life sciences lawyer Lana Gladstein has joined US law firm Nutter McClennen & Fish’s intellectual property practice as partner. 4 March 2015
Asia
The battle between pharmaceutical and generics companies in India is once again in the spotlight, with a decision pending on another compulsory licence. The players this time are Novartis and Cipla, with the former already having drawn first blood. LSIPR investigates. 3 March 2015
Europe
Previously for LSIPR, Jane Wainwright of Potter Clarkson investigated the emergence of self-colliding patent filings in Europe and their relevance to the life sciences. As the European Patent Office begins to review this issue at the highest level, she revisits the concept and why it is now being reconsidered. 3 March 2015
Americas
The FDA could approve the US’s first biosimilar product any day now. But is the country ready for the wave of biosimilar applications that
will surely follow, and how quickly can these cut-price drugs come to market? LSIPR reports. 3 March 2015
Americas
AstraZeneca has closed a deal that will see it acquire the rights to Actavis’s branded respiratory drugs business in the US and Canada, it was announced today. 3 March 2015
Big Pharma
The English High Court has ordered the country’s National Health Service to issue guidance to medical professionals so that they prescribe Pfizer’s branded product Lyrica—not the generic version—for neuropathic pain. 3 March 2015
Asia
India-based generic drug maker Natco Pharma has signed a non-exclusive licensing agreement with Gilead Sciences that allows Natco to make and sell generic versions of hepatitis C drugs including Sovaldi, it was announced yesterday. 3 March 2015
article
In 2014, LSIPR featured some of world’s top-selling drugs that were due to lose patent exclusivity that year. The list included the big hitters Copaxone, Nexium and Cymbalta, with Evista, Micardis, Restasis and Nasonex also included. This year we have profiled five drugs set to lose US patent protection in 2015. 3 March 2015
Biotechnology
The patentability of human embryonic stem cells is bound up with many ethical considerations, including the viability of the cells used. Laura von Hertzen and Robert Burrows of Bristows discuss the latest legal opinions. 3 March 2015