PTAB invalidates Humira patent claims

In two inter partes review (IPR) decisions, the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) ruled as unpatentable five claims in U.S. Patent No. 8,889,135 covering autoimmune drug Humira adalimumab from AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) on the grounds of obviousness. The challenging petitions were filed by Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH (Ingelheim, Germany), which is developing BI 695501, a biosimilar of Humira.

The '135 patent covered an administration method and dosing regimens. PTAB concluded that prior art would allow a clinician of ordinary skill to derive the patent's methods, and that they were therefore obvious. PTAB rejected AbbVie's arguments that an unmet need for new RA therapies supports non obviousness...