Lundbeck patent decision welcomed
01 April 2009
Managing Intellectual Property
Practitioners have welcomed a UK House of Lords decision to uphold Lundbeck's patent for escitalopram
James Nurton, London
IP practitioners and the pharmaceutical industry have welcomed a House of Lords decision to uphold the patent for escitalopram – branded as Lexapro, Cipralex or Cipramil as well as other names. The ruling should make it harder to invalidate patents on the ground of insufficiency in the UK.
The drug, made by Danish company Lundbeck, is the world's biggest-selling antidepressant by volume. The patent at issue was a second-generation patent, with a priority date of June 14 1988. Its validity had been challenged by three generic manufacturers – Generics (UK), Arrow Generics and Teva.
At first instance, Mr Justice Kitchin rejected their attacks of lack of novelty and obviousness. But he agreed with their charge of insufficiency. Citing the House of Lords 1997 decision in Biogen v Medeva, Kitchin said the technical contribution of the patent was not to find a new product, but rather just one...
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