SECOND UPDATE ON SANOFI-AVENTIS V. APOTEX
| March 31, 2010
We updated you yesterday on the reexamination of U.S. Patent No. 4,847,265, covering Sanofi’s anti-blood clot drug PLAVIX®, and today we learned that the PTO has issued a Notice of Intent to Issue a Reexamination Certificate (NIRC).
The PTO has decided that the ‘265 claims are patentable over the prior art, explaining that the claimed “dextro isomers possess all the therapeutic anti-platelet aggregation activity without the toxicity of the racemate or the levo isomer.” The PTO acknowledged the long-felt need for, copying and commercial success of PLAVIX ® as supporting its conclusion of patentability.
Unfortunately, the legal issues raised by the ‘265 patentee in its response to the December Office Action will not be answered in this case.