SCC Rejects Promise Doctrine In Seminal Pharmaceutical Patent Case

The Supreme Court of Canada's (the "Court" or the "SCC") recent judgment in AstraZeneca Canada Inc. v Apotex Inc., (2017 SCC 36, "AstraZeneca v Apotex") released on June 30, 2017, constitutes an important paradigm shift in Canadian patent law. As described in greater detail below, the SCC has rejected the "promise of the patent" doctrine (the "Promise Doctrine"), a doctrine which has been a unique and fundamental principle in Canadian patent law, used to determine if the subject matter claimed in a patent is useful, as required by section 2 of the Patent Act.

This decision appears to be a victory for those seeking patent protection in Canada, arguably lowering the standard to be met for utility and providing some guidance to patentees and their agents with respect to information that should and should not be included in the specification. However, it should be noted that disclosure requirements in Canada remain unchanged with respect to soundly predicting utility