Federal Appellate Court Reverses Hospira vs. Medicines Company Decision

The federal appellate court has ruled that the Medicines Company’s use of third-party suppliers to manufacture its blood thinner Angiomax does not invalidate the drug’s patents, reversing an earlier panel decision.

The full U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit concluded that the on-sale standard for patent invalidation was not triggered by the Medicines Company’s reliance on Ben Venue Laboratories as a contract manufacturer.

Hospira, which challenged the patents in an effort to produce a generic of Angiomax, argued unsuccessfully that the use of a contract manufacturer rendered the patents “on sale” for more than a year. Patents that are on the market for more than a year are automatically invalid.