• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe

Drug Delivery Business

  • Clinical Trials
  • Research & Development
  • Drug-Device Combinations
  • FDA
  • Pharmaceuticals
  • Policy

Tribe looks to stop patent board’s review of Restasis IP

March 20, 2018 By Sarah Faulkner

GavelAllergan (NYSE:AGN) and the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe asked the Federal Circuit last week to stop the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board from reviewing the IP for Allergan’s blockbuster eye drug, Restasis.

The move comes in response to the board’s February decision that sovereign immunity does not shield tribes from patent challenges.

The board’s ruling last month was a loss for Allergan; the pharmaceutical company transferred patent rights for its blockbuster eye drug to the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe last year to avoid inter partes review by generic pharma companies.

Allergan previously hedged its bets on sovereign immunity, arguing that the tribe’s status exempted them from review by the board and that the IPR challenges brought by Mylan (NSDQ:MYL), Teva Pharmaceuticals (NYSE:TEVA) and other companies should be dismissed.

But in its 42-page opinion, the board wrote that “reconsideration of the patentability of issued claims via inter parters review is appropriate without regard to the identity of the patent owner.”

The controversial patent deal between Allergan and the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe struck a nerve around the industry and among lawmakers. Earlier this month, Sens. Tom Cotton (R-Ar), Claire McCaskill (D-Mo) David Perdue (R-Ga), Joni Ernst (R-Ia) and Pat Toomey (R-Pa) introduced a bill this month that would prevent patent owners from claiming sovereign immunity as a means to shield IP from review by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Want to stay on top of DDBN content? Sign up for our e-mail newsletter for a weekly dose of drug-device news.

Filed Under: Drug-Device Combinations, Featured, Legal News, Optical/Ophthalmic, Pharmaceuticals, Wall Street Beat Tagged With: Allergan, Mylan, Teva Pharmaceuticals

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

  • Flat Medical partners with Mercury Medical on smart syringe distribution
  • Glucotrack to effect a reverse stock split
  • Medtronic unveils ‘MiniMed’ as name for soon-to-be separated Diabetes unit
  • Insulet, Marvel collab to unveil comic book hero with type 1 diabetes
  • Insulet rolls out new Omnipod 5 iPhone app for use with Dexcom G7

Primary Sidebar

“ddb
EXPAND YOUR KNOWLEDGE AND STAY CONNECTED
Get the latest news and trends happening now in drug delivery.

MEDTECH 100 INDEX

Medtech 100 logo
Market Summary > Current Price
The MedTech 100 is a financial index calculated using the BIG100 companies covered in Medical Design and Outsourcing.

Footer

Drug Delivery Business News Logo

MassDevice Medical NETWORK

MassDevice
DeviceTalks
Medical Tubing + Extrusion
Medical Design & Outsourcing
MedTech100 Index
Drug Discovery & Development
Pharmaceutical Processing World
Medical Design Sourcing
R&D World

DRUG DELIVERY BUSINESS NEWS

Subscribe to Drug Delivery’s E-Newsletter
Advertise with us
About
Contact us
Privacy
Listen to our Weekly Podcasts

Copyright © 2025 · WTWH Media LLC and its licensors. All rights reserved.
The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of WTWH Media.

Privacy Policy | RSS