Two important biotech legal rulings:May 31, 2001

First the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals on May 30 issued a ruling re-affirming its earlier vacated decision that Eli Lilly’s patent on Prozac is invalid for double patenting. The court’s earlier decision had been vacated and this ruling invalidates the patent on similar grounds but with different analysis. Barr Laboratories the opposing party plans to offer generic Prozac as early as August.Second, the European Patent Office in Munich invalidated Hoffman-La Roche’s patent on Taq polymerase as obvious and lacking novelty based upon prior art. This ruling is consistent with US court rulings invalidating the same patent in the US for fraud on the PTO.