Federal Circuit Revokes The Medicines Co.’s Angiomax Patents

The Federal Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that two of The Medicines Company’s patents for its anticlotting drug Angiomax are invalid — a win for Hospira, which is planning a generic version of the treatment.

The decision overturned a March 2014 ruling in the U.S. district court in Delaware, which found that the ’727 and ’343 patents for Angiomax (bivalirudin) were valid but not infringed by Hospira’s ANDA. The brandmaker appealed the noninfringement ruling in The Medicines Company v. Hospira, Inc., while the generics maker appealed the validity ruling.

The appellate court ruled the that district court erred in finding that bivalirudin batches prepared by Ben Venue Laboratories before the patent applications were filed in 2008 were not sold to The Medicines Company and were prepared primarily for an experimental purpose.

The Medicines Company is considering its next steps, says Clive Meanwell, the company’s CEO. Hospira could not be reached for comment by press time.

Angiomax accounted for about 80 percent of The Medicines Company’s 2014 revenues of $724 million. — Jonathon Shacat