Case: Bristol-Myers Squibb Canada Co. v
Teva Canada Limited, 2016 FC 580 (Court File No.
T-1364-14)
Drug: REYATAZ® (atazanavir
bisulfate)
Nature of case: Prohibition application pursuant
to section 6 of the Patented Medicines (Notice of
Compliance) Regulations, SOR/93-133 (the
Regulations)
Successful party: Bristol-Myers Squibb Canada Co.,
Bristol-Myers Squibb Ireland, and Novartis AG (in part)
Date of decision: June 8, 2016
Summary
Bristol-Myers Squibb Canada Co. (BMS Canada)
markets atazanavir bisulfate in Canada under the name
REYATAZ® for the treatment of HIV. Teva Canada
Limited (Teva) sought approval to market generic
atazanavir capsules and alleged that two patents, listed on the
patent register against REYATAZ®, were invalid. BMS
Canada, together with Bristol-Myers Squibb Ireland and Novartis AG
(collectively, BMS), sought an order under the
Regulations prohibiting the Minister of Health
(Minister) from approving Teva's generic
atazanavir capsules.
The Federal Court held that Teva's anticipation and obviousness
allegations regarding Canadian Patent No. 2,250,840 (the
Compound Patent) were not justified and issued an
order prohibiting the Minister from approving Teva's generic
atazanavir capsules until the Compound Patent's expiry. The
Court dismissed the application in respect of Canadian Patent No.
2,317,736 (the Salt Patent) on the basis of
Teva's obviousness allegation.
Background
The Compound Patent was filed on April 14, 1997. In this
proceeding, BMS asserted two claims: one to atazanavir or a salt
thereof and a second to a pharmaceutical composition of the same
for treatment of a disease that is responsive to a retroviral
protease.
The Salt Patent was filed on December 22, 1998. The Salt Patent
contains two claims, both of which were asserted by BMS: one to
atazanavir bisulfate and a second to a pharmaceutical dosage form
comprising atazanavir bisulfate and a pharmaceutically acceptable
carrier.
The Compound Patent claims were not obvious
Teva relied upon two documents for its obviousness allegation regarding the Compound Patent: an Australian patent application and a letter filed in the European Patent Office (EPO). Teva's expert testified that among 240 exemplified compounds, the Australian patent application specifically claimed one that would have been a "good starting point" for making atazanavir through routine modification. The promising activity of this compound, he said, was disclosed in the EPO letter.
Justice Mactavish held that Teva did not show either the EPO
letter or the relevant claims of the Australian patent application
to have been part of the prior art at the relevant date. Justice
Mactavish also found that Teva's translation of the EPO letter
from German to English was unreliable and that the EPO letter was
inadmissible because it was not included in Teva's notice of
allegation.
Without either document as a starting point, it would not have been
more or less self-evident to a skilled person that the chemical
substitutions required to make atazanavir would work, let alone
result in the specific combination of advantageous properties that
it possesses. Justice Mactavish found that, consistent with the
inventors' course of conduct, prolonged and arduous
experimentation was required to obtain the invention. It was not
obvious.
The Compound Patent claims were not anticipated by a genus of billions of compounds
Teva also argued that asserted claims of the Compound Patent
were anticipated by a US genus patent that disclosed billions of
compounds, one of which was said to be atazanavir. BMS argued that
when properly construed, atazanavir did not fall within the genus.
Justice Mactavish agreed with BMS, holding that Teva's
construction of the term in dispute was "nothing short of
tortured." As a result, atazanavir was not disclosed, nor were
its advantageous properties.
Justice Mactavish further held that a claim to a specific chemical
such as atazanavir is not anticipated by a prior art reference that
only teaches a broad genus of compounds, when the prior art does
not provide directions that would inevitably result in the specific
compound in issue. The Court also rejected Teva's argument that
the Compound Patent was an invalid selection from the US genus
patent.
A purposive construction of the Salt Patent
The Salt Patent claims atazanavir bisulfate as a chemical
formula. Teva argued that this formula, known as "formula
II" in the description, included two crystalline forms of the
salt called Type-I and Type-II. Both types were exemplified as
embodiments of formula II in the description. BMS argued that as
written, the formula only described the Type-I salt. While the
Type-I salt has the desired properties described in the Salt
Patent, the Type-II salt does not. It was Teva's position that
since the claims included the inoperable Type-II salt, they were
invalid.
Justice Mactavish agreed with BMS that only the anhydrous Type-I
salt was claimed because the formula in the claim did not show the
water associated with the Type-II salt, which is a hydrate. In
reaching this conclusion, the Court rejected Teva's reliance on
foreign jurisprudence to the effect that a claim construction that
excludes a preferred embodiment is unlikely to be correct. Although
Mactavish J acknowledged it was "puzzling" that the
drafters included an embodiment that was not suitable for the
intended purpose of the invention, she found that the presence of
this example and its reference to "formula II" was not
enough to override the text of the claims.
The Salt Patent claims were obvious
On obviousness, the key issue in dispute was the extent to which
the skilled person must be able to foresee the results of a
"salt screen" in order for a salt to be obvious. BMS
argued that before making and testing atazanavir bisulfate, it was
impossible to predict whether the salt would be crystalline or have
the desired combination of properties. These properties were part
of the inventive concept and as a result, BMS said, the salt could
not be obvious. Teva disagreed that the advantageous properties of
atazanavir bisulfate formed part of the inventive concept and
argued that, in any event, obtaining a suitable salt was the result
of routine experimentation.
Justice Mactavish agreed with BMS that the inventive concept of the
Salt Patent included the advantageous properties of atazanavir
bisulfate notwithstanding the lack of supporting data in the
patent, which is a question of utility rather than construction.
However, the Court held that there was motivation to try to make
salts of atazanavir in order to improve its oral bioavailability.
The salts made in a "standard salt screen" of atazanavir
would have included atazanavir bisulfate, which would then have
been characterized by routine means. This was consistent with the
inventors' own course of conduct, having synthesized atazanavir
bisulfate on the very first day of their salt screen.
As a result the Court found the claims to atazanavir bisulfate
obvious even though the salt and its advantageous properties could
not have been predicted a priori. Teva's allegation
was successful and the Court dismissed the application in respect
of the Salt Patent.
Appeal
BMS has appealed the dismissal of its application in respect of the Salt Patent (see Court File No. A-191-16).
Link:
Bristol-Myers Squibb Canada Co. v Teva Canada Limited, 2016 FC 580
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