PTAB denies Bass' IPR petitions against Acorda
Acorda Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:ACOR) climbed $8.03 (28%) to $36.99 in early after-hours trading after the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office denied two inter partes review (IPR) petitions from Kyle Bass' Coalition for Affordable Drugs challenging two patents for Ampyra dalfampridine. Acorda's share price remains below its close of $39.91 on Feb. 9, before Bass' first petition was filed, but the after-hours move recovered most of the value Acorda had lost in the interim (see BioCentury Extra, Feb. 11).
The USPTO's Patent Trials and Appeals Board said the coalition presented insufficient evidence against the patents. The coalition had referenced poster presentations to support its arguments that Acorda's claims were available in the prior art. PTAB concluded that the posters do not qualify as printed publications and thus do not constitute prior art (see BioCentury Extra, May 27). ...