Apotex Fails in Tribunal Challenge to UCB Biopharma Patent

UCB Biopharma SPRL won a tribunal ruling upholding its antihistamine patent, after a Canadian challenger failed to prove that the challenged claims are too obvious for patent protection.

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s determination came in an inter partes review of UCB’s U.S. Patent No. 8,633,194, which covers liquid levocetirizine formations free of bacteria.

Apotex, based in Toronto, told the PTAB that the patent’s claims were obvious given a previous patent, relevant information in a pharmaceutical handbook, and other prior art. But the company failed to show that the patent claims are unpatentable, the Patent and Trademark Office ...