Here is Think IP Strategy’s weekly selection of top Pharma & Biotech intellectual property news breaking in the blogosphere and internet.

Highlights this week included:

Canada: Access to medicines reform passes House of Commons (Michael Geist) (IP Watch) (Afro-IP) (GenericsWeb)

EU: AG Bot delivers opinion in human stem cell patent case Brüstle v Greenpeace (IPKat) (EPLAW)

Please join the discussion by adding your comments on any of these stories, and please do let us know if you think we’ve missed something important, or if there is a source you think should be monitored.

General

Medicines patent pool aims to increase access to HIV drugs in developing countries (IP Watch)

UN agencies encourage use of measures to lower HIV medicines costs (IP Watch)

Never ending patents?  – Discussion of NYT article ‘Drug firms face billions in losses in 2011 as patents end’ (PatLit) (IP finance)

Informing the pharma innovation debate: Harmonised IP standards and its effects (Spicy IP)

Health and innovation: in the eye of the storm – Francis Gurry’s address to Medicines Australia 2011 Parliamentary dinner (WIPO)

Biotech, Gates Foundation, and global health (PatentlyBIOtech)

Draft review finds no WHO malfeasance on pandemics (IP Watch)

WHO opens expert R&D financing group to public scrutiny (IP Watch)

Australia: Federal government proposes to eliminate copyright uncertainty for pharmaceutical companies (IP Whiteboard)

Australia: Gene Bill threatens access to biologic medicines (GenericsWeb)

Canada: Access to medicines reform passes House of Commons (Michael Geist) (IP Watch) (Afro-IP) (GenericsWeb)

China: Made in India, faked in China (Spicy IP)

EU: AG Bot delivers opinion in human stem cell patent case Brüstle v Greenpeace (IPKat) (EPLAW)

India, EU settle generics dispute, pave way for FTA talks in April (Generic Pharmaceuticals and IP)

Spain: May the ‘basic’ patent be limited under Article 138.3 of the EPC when the validity of SPC is questioned? (Kluwer Patent Blog)

US: Abraxis Biosciences v Navinta en banc denied – looking back to DBB, forward to Stanford/Roche (IPBiz)

US: W D Washington denies preliminary injunction in biotech trademark dispute: Mirina Corp. v Marina Biotech (Seattle Trademark Lawyer)

US: Issues to consider when structuring medical device development and license agreements (IP Spotlight)

US: Have you benefited from public access to PubMed? (EFF)

US: Inter-agency group takes on counterfeit pharmaceuticals (PatentlyBIOtech)

US: Recent Hatch-Waxman scholarship suggests patent settlement and product hopping create a ‘lethal combination’; another article proposes a ‘Smith Barney approach’ to 180-day exclusivity (FDA Law Blog)

US: Sen Harkin urges FDA to avoid delays of generic drug approvals (GenericsWeb)

Products

Actos (Pioglitazone) – US: Takeda files patent infringement complaint against Apotex following Para IV challenge (Patent Docs)

Aldara (Imiquimod) – US: Nycomed files for declaratory judgment of invalidity and non-infringement based on its ANDA to manufacture generic version of Graceway’s Aldara (Patent Docs)

Azilect (Rasagiline) – US: Teva dismisses Mylan’s inequitable conduct defences in Azilect dispute (Patent Docs)

Escitalopram – Denmark: Escitalopram litigation – current status in Denmark (Kluwer Patent Blog)

Esomeprazol – Denmark: Danish High Court has for the first time upheld a preliminary injunction based on fingerprint analyses and differences in process yield: Sandoz v AstraZeneca (EPLAW)

Fentora (Fentanyl) – US: District of Delaware finds Cephalons ‘604 and ‘590 patents invalid and not infringed (IPBiz) (Patent Docs)

Humira (Adalimumab) – US: Centocor v. Abbott: Federal Circuit struggles to articulate a coherent standard for compliance with the Lilly written description requirement (Holman’s Biotech IP Blog)

Lexapro (Escitalopram) – US: CAFC affirms obviousness of Infosint’s patent claims (IPBiz)

Lotronex (Alosetron) – US: Prometheus files patent infringement suit against Roxane in response to Para IV challenge (Patent Docs)

Pravastatine – Belgium/France: Post-expiry saisie-contrefaçon: Belgium and France diverge: Sandoz/Daiichi Sankyo, Cour de Cassation (France) (JIPLP)

Strocain – Indonesia: Jakarta Commercial Court rejects Eisai’s suit to cancel STROCAP based on earlier STROCAIN registration (IP Komodo Dragon)

Suprep – US: Braintree files patent infringement suit against Novel in response to Para IV certification filing (Patent Docs)

Tamiflu (Oseltamivir) – US: Gilead Sciences, Roche sue India’s Natco over US patent for Tamiflu (GenericsWeb)

Taxotere (Docetaxel) – US: Hospira wins approval for first US generic version of Sanofi-Aventis’ Taxotere (GenericsWeb)

Taxotere (Docetaxel) – US: Sanofi agrees to judgment barring assertion of Taxotere patents: Aventis v Sandoz (Patent Docs)

Valsartan – France: Subject-matter and effects of the protection of a SPC – Novartis v. Actavis (Kluwer Patent Blog)

Valsartan – Norway: Valsartan case goes on appeal: Novartis v Actavis (The SPC Blog)

Xeloda (Capecitabine) – US: Hoffmann-La Roche files patent infringement complaint against Accord following Para IV challenge (Patent Docs)