Sanofi-Aventis Deutschland GMBH v. Glenmark Pharmaceuticals
Inc.
Addressing the obviousness of combining two known hypertension
medications, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
upheld a ruling of non-obviousness where the prior art did not
teach the drug combination and post-filing evidence showed
unexpected benefits. Sanofi-Aventis Deutschland GMBH v.
Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Inc., USA, Case No. 12-1489 (Fed.
Cir., Apr. 21, 2014) (Newman, J.)
The plaintiffs sued Glenmark after the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) approved Glenmark's abbreviated new drug
application for a generic version of Tarka®, a hypertension
drug. The asserted patent relates to combining trandolapril
(an ACE inhibitor) and verapamil (a calcium channel blocker) to
treat hypertension. Sanofi-Aventis, Aventis Pharma, Abbott
GMBH, Abbott Laboratories (Abbott Labs) and Abbott Laboratories,
Inc. (ALI) own or exclusively license the patent. Abbott Labs
owns the new drug
