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ARTICLE | Company News

Cosmo, Shire autoimmune news

October 10, 2016 7:00 AM UTC

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) upheld the validity of the only Orange Book-listed patent for ulcerative colitis drug Lialda mesalamine from Shire. PTAB evaluated an inter partes review (IPR) petition from Kyle Bass’ Coalition for Affordable Drugs challenging U.S. Patent No. 6,773,720, which covers controlled-release oral compositions containing 5-aminosalicylate (5-ASA). The patent expires June 8, 2020, and is owned by Cosmo’s Cosmo Technologies Ltd. subsidiary. Shire markets Lialda, which is 5-ASA mesalamine formulated using Multi-Matrix system (MMX) technology from Cosmo. In its decision, PTAB said Bass’ coalition did not meet the burden of establishing the unpatentability of claims in the ‘720 patent. It characterized the case as a “close call, but certainly not a strong case” for the patent’s obviousness based on prior art. ...