Patent Descriptions: T1742/19 And Insufficient Disclosure

A November 2022 decision by the Boards of Appeal of the European Patent Office addresses several issues relating to the sufficiency of disclosure in patent descriptions, as Stéphane Masi explains.

In T1742/19 (Pharmaceutical composition containing an anti-nucleating agent), the Boards of Appeal of the European Patent Office (EPO) considered various points relevant to sufficiency of disclosure in patent descriptions.

In particular, the Board found there to be insufficient description of two claims contained in European patent No. 1 819 323 relating to a certain quantity of a particular form (known as form 1), which comprised a potassium salt of formula A (A being an organic compound of the alkaloid type) mixed with a certain quantity of an anti-nucleating agent.