August 1, 2017: Your weekly dose from the world of patents. The Patent Chronicle is led by Syam Anand, who has been at the core of CSG’s development and an entrepreneur himself. This section is your go to destination every week for a capsule dose on the hottest happenings in the patent world. Syam has clinically dissected out every news on the decision, the background and the impact. He is also in the process of building his scicomm team for this section. If you would like to come aboard, mail him at syam.anand@sciwri.club
Let’s roll the dice for the latest happenings…
Patent-free life saving drugs from Drugs for Neglected Disease Initiative (DNDI)
The 1990 Nobel Prize for Doctors without Borders provided the seed money for DNDI. But that was not sufficient for DNDI to realize its goal of manufacturing and distributing drugs for diseases of the poor. Bernard Pécoul, a physician associated with Doctors without Borders embarked on a journey to realize this dream. Delinking the usual norms and practices of drugs and profitability, Pécoul lead DNDI to a pharma company for the poor. DNDI now delivers patent-free drugs to neglected diseases that would not have been possible with complete reliance on traditional pharmaceutical industry.
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Escaping Big Pharma’s Pricing With Patent-Free Drugs https://t.co/xi6bT9w8eR
— Martin Vetterli (@MartinVetterli) July 19, 2017
A life-saving patent that Volvo never licensed
US Patent 3043625 to Nils Bohlin reduced the fatalities from car collisions by almost 50%. Volvo, with whom Bohlin was employed was also a leader in many safety features that we use in cars even today. But little known is the fact that Volvo allowed all car manufacturers to use their patented three-point harness system without requiring a license. Thank Bohlin and Volvo for the “click it”.
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This humble yet remarkable invention became Volvo’s gift to the world in 1959
Seat belts saves lives wear your Click it now pic.twitter.com/DOFDeA93nJ— NS Trucking Safety (@NS_SafeTrucking) July 18, 2017
Exon-skipping patent settlement by Sarepta
Decision: Biomarin Pharmaceutical Inc. and Sarepta Therapeutics signed a license providing Sarepta with exclusive rights to Biomarin’s exon-skipping products.
Reason: Worldwide patent battles had pitched the two companies against one another on the use of exon-skipping products for DMD.
Impact: Both Biomarin and Sarepta come out as winners with agreements on royalties, licensing fees and profit sharing. They are also a sign of mutual cooperation that will benefit the end-users. As a result of these agreements, both companies get credit for their innovation, which will allow them to focus on R&D rather than litigation. It also consolidates their position as a global leader in exon-skipping products for diseases like DMD.
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#Sarepta & #BioMarin settle global patent disputes with $35m compensation deal & license agreement. More here: https://t.co/wTGzC6Vvl8 pic.twitter.com/4CZ1BYT1bg
— Scrip, Citeline Commercial (@PharmaScrip) July 24, 2017
Stryker strikes triple damages
Decision: US district judge ruled that Zimmer Biomet infringed Stryker’s patent for a pulsed lavage system used in surgeries. Further, the court tripled the damages for infringement for egregious behavior.
Reason: The infringement suit was filed in 2010 in Kalamazoo and related to three patents covering Stryker’s Pulsavac. The litigation also took place in the federal circuit with mixed results for Stryker. The judge in Michigan however felt that Zimmer did nothing to stop the infringing activity or mitigate damages at any point during the litigation. Further, the judge also felt that the Zimmer refused to turn over the evidence in a “willful and egregious” manner.
Impact: As a result of the judgment Zimmer owes Stryker 248.7 million dollars. It is a good time to be associated with Stryker.
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https://twitter.com/LisaGDouglasLaw/status/892075065164148737
Amphastar gets breather in blood thinner war
Decision: The US District court jury in Boston ruled that a Momenta patent used to test an ingredient in generic Lovenox is invalid. The jury also sided with Amphastar on whether Momenta had waived its rights to enforce the patent.
Reason: Momenta and Novartis had sued Amphastar close to a billion dollars in lost sales for using their patented test without permission in the manufacture of their generic version.
Impact: Lovenox has a long history of litigation. The legal war will continue on multiple fronts with Amphastar filing an antitrust motion against Momenta and Momenta planning for appeals.
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Momenta, Novartis Lose US Patent Trial on Generic Lovenox – Bloomberg Big Law Business (0 visits) https://t.co/unTzbjAIXx pic.twitter.com/TdF9j0nJ95
— ipmallipnews (@ipmallipnews) July 21, 2017
Infographically speaking….
From Visually.
Proprietary Humor
Source: Mimi and Eunice
About the author:
Authored by Dr Syam Anand, PhD (Indian Institute of Science, IISc; Post-Doctoral research, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine; Faculty, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Founder and US Patent Agent, Mainline Intellectual Property LLC, Ardmore, Philadelphia USA). Syam has over 20 years experience in diverse areas of Science with domain knowledge in Life Sciences and Intellectual Property. Dr. Anand is also an inventor and budding entrepreneur. A rationalist, Dr. Anand enjoys science at all levels and advocates the use of scientific methods for answering all questions and solving all problems and make common people curious and interested in understanding their worlds.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/syamprasadanand
Feature image source: Pixabay
Blog design: Abhinav Dey
This work by ClubSciWri is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
