New Article – pharmaceutical polymorphs & patent strategy
Polymorphs have been a key component of the pharmaceutical patent war for quite some time. Our latest article takes a brief look at the issues and summarises Duncan’s presentation on 21 May at the Australian Generic Medicines Association conference in Sydney. Let me know what you think.
Duncan, re your recent article, as you may be aware,
Pumfrey J expressed some thoughts about the validity of a patent for a crystalline
form of clarithromycin in Abbott v Ranbaxy and others [2004] EWHC
2723 (decision of Mr. Justice Pumfrey of 19 November 2004). The patent was held to be invalid at an interlocutory stage – but for reasons other than
the lack of novelty of a crystalline form patent (which, he suggested, could
be novel)
Thanks Kate.Here’s a link to a decision from the Scottish Court of Session which held that a claim to a polymorph of Tibolone with a certain purity was not obvious:Arrow Generics Ltd v Akzo NB (represented in Scotland by Organon Laboratories Ltd), [2008] CSIH31Thanks to IPKat for the link.