Kyle Bass’ Shire Drug Patent Invalidation Upheld

A hedge fund manager whose controversial money-making strategy involves shorting the stock of biopharma companies he files patent challenges against preserved one victory on appeal.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld a pair of October 2016 Patent Trial and Appeal Board rulings that 61 of 75 claims of a Shire plc patent on its Gattex short bowel syndrome drug are invalid (In re NPS Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Fed. Cir., No. 17-1392, 11/15/17). Kyle Bass, head of investment firm Hayman Capital Management L.P. in Dallas, filed the PTAB challenge. The Federal Circuit upheld PTAB’s decision without ...