Kyle Bass’s success rate at the PTAB – an update

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Kyle Bass’s success rate at the PTAB – an update

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Hedge fund manager Kyle Bass has not gotten any holiday cheer from the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, with two of his petitions challenging pharmaceutical patents denied this month. The Board has now ruled on 16 of his inter partes review petitions

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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). 

Kyle Bass

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









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