Purdue Says Judge Wrongly Axed OxyContin Anti-Crush Patents (1)

Purdue Pharma LP asked the Federal Circuit to revive three patents covering an OxyContin formulation that’s resistant to abuse of the opioid, after a district court judge concluded they were obvious.

During oral argument Monday, the drugmaker said a Delaware federal district court erred in finding its technology predictable. It argued the court should’ve credited the company for solving a problem that stymied it and other rival companies after federal regulators expressed grave concerns about patients crushing and then snorting or injecting the popular painkiller in its original formulation.

“OxyContin was a billion-dollar drug that faced an existential threat stemming ...