Biogen Loses High Court Bid to Challenge Patent Description Rule

Biogen International GmbH failed to convince the Supreme Court to clarify how much support an inventor must provide to adequately describe an invention in a patent.

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit denied the company’s request for a full court rehearing of a ruling that allowed Mylan Pharmaceuticals Inc. and other generic drugmakers to sell copycats of Biogen’s multiple sclerosis drug Tecfidera. The decision has fractured the nation’s top patent court, as some judges warned that letting the split-panel’s precedent stand would have a “muddying” effect on case law. The high court Monday declined Biogen’s petition to ...