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Roche infectious news

November 12, 2012 8:00 AM UTC

India's Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) revoked a patent covering Roche's HCV drug Pegasys peginterferon alfa-2a on the grounds of obviousness. The patent covers the use of pegylation to improve the efficacy of interferon to treat HCV infection. In its ruling, the IPAB said prior art covering branched, pegylated proteins does not specifically mention the pegylation of interferon, but that it is "obvious to a person skilled in the art" that interferon could be successfully pegylated. The IPAB added that Roche used "conventional methods" to pegylate interferon and obtained predictable results, thereby rendering the patent "obvious." Additionally, IPAB said that Roche did not provide "adequate" evidence that Pegasys has better activity than other conjugated interferons. ...