Gibbons Law Alert

Gibbons Law Alert

Category: Biotech

NJ Seeks Partner to Create Life Sciences/Healthcare IT Accelerator

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Posted in Biotech

On February 13, 2013

The New Jersey Economic Development Authority (EDA) has announced its search for a private partner to manage the launch of a Life Sciences/Healthcare IT Accelerator. According to yesterday’s EDA Press Release, New Jersey is looking for a business partner to oversee the Accelerator, whose goal is to use the region’s business acumen to engender innovation and entrepreneurship. This announcement follows the recent enactment of the New Jersey Angel Investor Tax Credit Act, an investment stimulus measure for high tech start ups that provides investment incentives for “angel investors.”

Gibbons Institute Program to Cover Biosimilars

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Posted in Biotech

On February 12, 2013

Why all the buzz about biosimilars? Biosimilars, also known as follow-on biologics, are biologic medical products whose active drug substance is made by a living organism or derived from a living organism by means of recombinant DNA or controlled gene expression methods. The evolving biosimilars landscape is of concern to companies here in the U.S. and worldwide.

New Jersey Law to Stimulate High Tech Investment

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Posted in Biotech

On February 6, 2013

This past week, Governor Christie signed into law S. 581, entitled the “New Jersey Angel Investor Tax Credit Act.” The new law is designed to stimulate investment in New Jersey’s high tech start ups by providing investment incentives for “angel investors.” The law provides credits against corporation, business and gross income taxes for investing in New Jersey’s emerging technology businesses, including: advanced computing; advanced materials; biotechnology; electronic devices; information technology; life sciences; and mobile communications, among others. Angel investors in these start-ups will be eligible for tax credits equal to 10 percent of their investments, up to a maximum allowed credit of $500,000 for the tax year. Other criteria for the start-ups require that they employ fewer than 225 employees, 75 percent of whom must work in New Jersey. The overall program has an annual cap of $25 million.

Norman IP v. Lexmark: Post AIA Joinder and the Rule 42 Trump Card

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Posted in Biotech / Patent

On August 28, 2012

In Norman IP Holdings, LLC v. Lexmark Int’l, Inc., a recent Eastern District of Texas decision, Chief District Judge Leonard Davis provided guidance on the application of Fed. R. Civ. P. 20 (“Rule 20”) joinder and Fed. R. Civ. P. 42 (“Rule 42”) consolidation in patent infringement cases post-enactment of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (“AIA”). Norman IP brought suit against Lexmark and others on September 15, 2011, one day before the AIA was signed into law. Norman IP later added an additional 23 defendants. The defendants filed a motion to dismiss for improper joinder or to sever, and Norman IP alternatively requested that any severed cases be consolidated under Rule 42. The Court granted defendants’ motion to sever and issued an order consolidating the cases for pretrial issues excluding venue.

New Jersey Ranked No. 2 for Biotechnology Strength

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Posted in Biotech

On July 18, 2012

According to a press release from the Governor’s office, a recent review issued by Business Facilities magazine reported that New Jersey jumped eight positions to rank second for biotechnology strength among U.S. states. Some of the factors cited as responsible for this improvement include increases in R&D tax credits (from 50% to 100%) and the adoption of a new single sales factor formula for corporate tax liability, which will reduce company costs.

Federal Circuit to Revisit Myriad after Mayo Decision

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Posted in Biotech / Patent

On March 30, 2012

On Monday, the United States Supreme Court granted certiorari in the well-publicized Assn. For Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, et al. case (“Myriad”) for the purpose of vacating the underlying Federal Circuit decision — finding isolated DNA sequences from human genes as patentable subject matter — and remanding the case for reconsideration in view of its recent ruling in Mayo Collaborative Services, et al. v. Prometheus Laboratories, Inc. (“Mayo”).

The Value Of Pharmaceutical Method Claims

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Posted in Biotech / International Trade Commission / Patent / Pharmaceuticals

On October 13, 2011

The Federal Circuit’s Myriad Genetics decision, Ass’n for Molecular Pathology v. U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, 99 U.S.P.Q. 2d 1938 (Fed. Cir. 2011), which invalidated most of the method claims in the patents at issue, brings to mind a concern about the value of method claims, particularly to the pharmaceutical industry. The Myriad Genetics patents at issue included two types of method claims relating to human genetics: one involved determining whether a female patient had abnormal BRCA1/2 genes by comparison of BRCA1/2 gene and BRCA 1/2 RNA from the patient’s tumor sample to those from a non-tumor sample; the second was an activity screening method for anticancer drugs that compared the growth of a host cell transformed with a cancer-causing BRCA gene in the presence and absence, respectively, of the test compound.

A Recent Clarification on Intervening Rights by the Federal Circuit

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Posted in Biotech / Patent / Pharmaceuticals

On September 28, 2011

The Federal Circuit recently found that intervening rights can apply to a claim that has been narrowed by argument only during a reexamination. In Marine Polymer Technologies, Inc. v. HemCon, the Federal Circuit recently found that narrowing a claim by argument only changes the substantive scope of the claim for purposes of intervening rights. Specifically, a claim term that is changed during reexamination without changing a word in the claim can still substantively narrow the scope of a claim. Therefore, upon reissue of the patent, an infringer would have “… absolute intervening rights with respect to products manufactured before the date of reissue.”

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