Appeals Court Upholds PTAB Ruling in Favor of Biogen’s MS Patent

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld a 2017 ruling by the Patent Trials and Appeals Board rejecting Forward Pharma’s challenge to Biogen’s Tecfidera patent.

In its challenge, Forward claimed Biogen’s patents on the blockbuster multiple sclerosis drug were invalid. Under the ruling, Biogen will retain exclusivity for Tecfidera through 2028.

“A review of the claims and their intermixing dependencies presents an overall picture of a set of claims designed to preempt a conspicuously large number of different dosage regimens for a large variety of conditions,” the ruling states. “As the Board correctly observed, a skilled artisan would need to pick and choose from Forward’s claims without any guidance from the written description.”