
December has not been kind to hedge fund manager Kyle Bass’s efforts to invalidate pharmaceutical patents through Patent Trial and Appeal Board proceedings.
The Board this month has denied institution of two of his inter partes review petitions. Its decisions on December 8 and 17 both involved patents covering Pozen’s Vimovo arthritis pain treatment, which is marketed in the US by Horizon Pharma.
For those keeping score, the PTAB has now given an institution decision in 16 of the 33 petitions filed by the Coalition for Affordable Drugs, the coalition set up by Bass and Erich Spangenberg to attack pharma patents.
This means the board has now given an institution decision on almost half of the Coalition for Affordable Drugs petitions (see table below).

Bass’s success rate for institution now stands at 44%, with the PTAB instituting trial for seven IPRs and denying nine. This is down from the heady days of October, when Bass could boast a 54% rate of success after the Board had instituted seven of the 13 petitions it had decided up until then.
The Board has denied three petitions in a row since then.
Bass will be hoping to break this losing streak next month when the Board is likely to give more decisions, including on two more IPRs challenging the Vimovo treatment.
The PTAB has given decisions on all of Bass’s petitions filed until the end of June. Next up it must decide on the 12 petitions the Coalition filed in August and the five petitions filed in September.
Interestingly, Bass and Spangenberg in November also filed two petitions with just their two names listed, and no Coalition for Affordable Drugs. These petitions challenged patents owned by Alpex Pharma and Fresenius.
The Coalition for Affordable Drugs' IPR petitions* |
||||||
IPR number |
Date filed |
Law firm used by the Coalition |
Patent number |
Patent owner |
Drug used in |
Instituted? |
IPR2015-00720 |
February 10 |
Skiermont Puckett |
8,663,685 |
Acorda Therapeutics |
Ampyra |
NO |
IPR2015-00817 |
February 27 |
Skiermont Puckett |
8,007,826 |
Acorda Therapeutics |
Ampyra |
NO |
IPR2015-00988 |
April 1 |
Skiermont Puckett |
6,773,720 |
Cosmo Technologies/Nogra Pharma/Shire Development/Shire Inc/Shire Pharmaceuticsl Development |
Lialda |
YES |
IPR2015-00990 |
April 1 |
Merchant & Gould |
7,056,886 |
NPS Pharmaceuticals/Shire North American Group |
Gattex |
YES |
IPR2015-01018 |
April 6 |
Merchant & Gould |
7,895,059 |
Jazz Pharmaceuticals |
Xyrem |
NO |
IPR2015-01076 |
April 20 |
Merchant & Gould |
8,754,090 |
Pharmacyclics |
Imbruvica |
NO |
IPR2015-01086 |
April 22 |
Neifeld IP Law |
8,759,393 |
Biogen International |
Tecfidera |
NO |
IPR2015-01102 |
April 23 |
Skiermont Puckett |
6,315,720 |
Celgene Corporation |
Revlimid |
YES |
IPR2015-01096 |
April 23 |
Skiermont Puckett |
6,315,720 |
Celgene Corporation |
Revlimid |
YES |
IPR2015-01103 |
April 23 |
Skiermont Puckett |
6,315,720 |
Celgene Corporation |
Revlimid |
YES |
IPR2015-01092 |
April 23 |
Skiermont Puckett |
6,045,501 |
Celgene Corporation |
Pomalyst, Revlimid and Thalomid |
YES |
IPR2015-01093 |
April 23 |
Merchant & Gould |
7,056,886 |
NPS Pharmaceuticals/Shire North American Group |
Gattex |
YES (for some claims) |
IPR2015-01136 |
May 1 |
Neifeld IP Law |
8,399,514 |
Biogen MA |
Tecfidera |
NO |
IPR2015-01169 |
May 7 |
Merchant & Gould |
5,635,517 |
Celgene Corporation |
Pomalys |
NO |
IPR2015-01241 |
May 21 |
Conley Rose |
6,926,907 |
Pozen (Horizon Pharma bought the rights to the drug in November 2013)) |
Vimovo |
NO |
IPR2015-01344 |
June 5 |
Conley Rose |
8,858,996 |
Horizon Pharma/Pozen |
Vimovo |
NO |
IPR2015-01680 |
August 7 |
Conley Rose |
8,852,636 |
Pozen (Horizon Pharma bought the rights to the drug in November 2013)) |
Vimovo |
|
IPR2015-01718 |
August 12 |
Conley Rose |
8,945,621 |
Horizon Pharma/Pozen |
Vimovo |
|
IPR2015-01723 |
August 13 |
Cunningham Swaim/Winstead |
6,967,208 |
Bristol Myers Squibb Pharma |
Eliquis |
|
IPR2015-01776 |
August 20 |
Merchant & Gould |
7,582,621 |
Anacor/Sandoz |
Kerydin |
|
IPR2015-01785 |
August 20 |
Merchant & Gould |
7,767,657 |
Anacor/Sandoz |
Kerydin |
|
IPR2015-01780 |
August 20 |
Merchant & Gould |
7,767,657 |
Anacor/Sandoz |
Kerydin |
|
IPR2015-01792 |
August 22 |
Neifeld IP Law |
8,163,522 |
Amgen/Hoffmann-La Roche/Immunex |
Enbrel |
|
IPR2015-01799 |
August 24 |
Law Offices of Gregory J Gonsalves/McNeeley Hare & War |
8,835,460 |
Insys Pharma |
Subsys |
|
IPR2015-01797 |
August 24 |
Law Offices of Gregory J Gonsalves/McNeeley Hare & War |
8,835,459 |
Insys Pharma |
Subsys |
|
IPR2015-01800 |
August 24 |
Law Offices of Gregory J Gonsalves/McNeeley Hare & War |
8,486,972 |
Insys Pharma |
Subsys |
|
IPR2015-01835 |
August 28 |
Law Offices of Gregory J Gonsalves/McNeeley Hare & War |
8,618,135 |
Aegerion Pharmaceuticals/Trustees of The University of Pennsylvania |
Juxtapid |
|
IPR2015-01836 |
August 28 |
Law Offices of Gregory J Gonsalves/McNeeley Hare & War |
7,932,268 |
Aegerion Pharmaceuticals/Trustees of The University of Pennsylvania |
Juxtapid |
|
IPR2015-01850 |
September 2 |
Skiermont Puckett |
8,440,703 |
Acorda Therapeutics |
Ampyra |
|
IPR2015-01853 |
September 2 |
Skiermont Puckett |
8,007,826 |
Acorda Therapeutics |
Ampyra |
|
IPR2015-01858 |
September 3 |
Skiermont Puckett |
8,354,437 |
Acorda Therapeutics |
Ampyra |
|
IPR2015-01857 |
September 3 |
Skiermont Puckett |
8,663,685 |
Acorda Therapeutics |
Ampyra |
|
IPR2015-01993 |
September 28 |
Neifeld IP Law |
8,399,514 |
Biogen MA |
Tecfidera |
|
All of the IPRs list the petitioners as the Coalition for Affordable Drugs, J Kyle Bass, Erich Spangenberg, Hayman Capital Management, various Hayman funds, IP Navigation Group, and nXn Partners |
||||||
Source: Docket Navigator |
IPR petitions filed listing only Kyle Bass and Erich Spangenberg |
|||||
IPR number |
Date filed |
Law firm used |
Patent number |
Patent owner |
Drug used in |
IPR2016-00245 |
November 24 |
Law Offices of Gregory J Gonsalves/McNeeley Hare & War |
8,440,170 |
Alpex Pharma |
Suprenza |
IPR2016-00254 |
November 25 |
Law Offices of Gregory J Gonsalves/McNeeley Hare & War |
8,476,010 |
Fresenius Kabi |
Diprivan |
Source: Docket Navigator |