The recent decisions of the USPTO Patent Trial and Appeal Board
(PTAB) granting Celgene's requests for rehearing in parallel
Inter Partes Review proceedings brought by Kyle Bass's
Coalition for Affordable Drugs (CFAD) are notable in several
respects. First, the fact that the PTAB granted rehearing and
partially reversed its original rulings is a rare success for a
patent owner. Second, the fact that Celgene was able to uphold one
of the challenged claims highlights the potential value of
obtaining a variety of claims and defending them on an individual
basis.
The Celgene Patent At Issue
The decisions at issue were rendered in three parallel IPRs:
Affordable Drugs VI, LLC, v. Celgene Corporation
(IPR2015-01098, IPR2015-01102, and IPR2015-01103). The patent at
issue in all three proceedings was Celgene's U.S. 6,315,720,
which is directed to methods of "delivering"
(distributing) teratogenic drugs (such as Thalidomide) in a way
that restricts access to patients that
