A sense of relief: enforcing second medical use patents

In the last year the English courts have produced several judgments on infringement of second medical use claims as part of the continuing litigation between Warner-Lambert (Pfizer) and Actavis and Mylan. While there are still questions to be answered on determining infringement of second medical use patents, there are some practical steps which patentees and future competitors can consider taking that may assist in trying to reach a non-contentious solution before the launch of any potentially infringing medicine. There is also some guidance from the courts on what relief patentees can expect the courts to provide if an infringement action relating to a second medical use patent is successful.