Cytos, Independent Pharmaceutica, Nabi, Novartis, Celtic Pharma neurology news
In an opposition brought by Nabi, Cytos, Novartis and Independent Pharmaceutica, the European Patent Office (EPO) revoked Xenova Group plc's European Patent No. EP1329226 covering the use of a therapeutic hapten-carrier conjugate comprising a hapten derived from nicotine and a protein carrier. EP1329226 is a divisional patent that amended claims from parent application EP0814843, which describes therapeutic hapten-carrier conjugates to treat drug abuse and claims such therapeutics to treat cocaine abuse. The Opposition Division found that EP1329226 went beyond the scope of the parent application, because nicotine was not singled out in the parent application. Celtic Pharma, which acquired Xenova in 2005, has the option to appeal but declined to comment on its plans. ...