Canada’s Top Court to Consider Nexium Patent

Canada’s top court is expected to clarify the meaning of the controversial phrase “promise of the patent” in hearing AstraZeneca Canada Inc.'s appeal of the Federal Court of Appeal’s ruling upholding invalidation of its patent for gastrointestinal reflux drug Nexium (AstraZeneca Canada, Inc. v. Apotex, Inc.leave to appeal).

The Supreme Court of Canada granted leave for the pharmaceutical company to appeal the rulings by lower courts that the Nexium patent was invalid on the basis of inutility because it didn’t meet the promises claimed in the patent 13 PLIR 1041, 7/17/15, 90 PTCJ 2636, 7/17/15. The court ...