Bayer Fails to Shed Challenge to Xarelto Patent at Appeals Court

Three generic drug makers’ challenge to the validity of a Bayer AG patent protecting its blockbuster blood-thinning drug Xarelto will continue, as the Federal Circuit remanded the case to an administrative tribunal that sided with the generics companies in 2023.

Though the appellate panel vacated part of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s ruling, in a precedential opinion issued Tuesday it rejected Bayer’s invitation to toss a finding that language in the patent stating a combination of Xarelto with aspirin was “clinically proven effective” didn’t make otherwise obvious parts of the patent patentable.

That phrase, “even if limiting—cannot breathe patentability ...