Canadian Court Invalidates Patent For Pfizer’s Pain Medication Lyrica

OTTAWA—The Federal Court of Canada invalidated Feb. 4 Pfizer Canada Inc.’s patent for prescription fibromyalgia medication pregabalin, marketed as Lyrica, on the basis that the patent attempted to claim too broad a range of applications for the drug (Pfizer Canada Inc. v. Pharmascience Inc.).

The application that led to Patent No. 2,255,652 (the ’652 patent) for pregabalin identified a variety of types of chronic and persistent pain that the drug could be used to treat, but also attempted to broaden the potential scope of the patent by using the words “but are not limited to” and mentioning a ...