Forward Pharma Faces Uphill Struggle Appealing Biogen's Tecfidera PTAB Win

Forward Pharma is suspending all FP187 development pending the outcome of its legal interference appeal against Biogen – but analysts see little prospect of it overturning last month's decision that effectively allows Biogen's dimethyl fumarate-based drug Tecfidera to stay on the market with its own patent.

Patentability

Facing an uphill struggle, Forward Pharma AS says it will nonetheless appeal last month's decision by the US Patent and Trademark Office's Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) that ruled the Danish biotech's patent application covering a method of treating multiple sclerosis with a 480 mg per day dose of dimethyl fumarate are un-patentable, due to a lack of adequate written description.

That decision by the PTAB effectively means Biogen Inc.'s blockbuster MS pill Tecfidera (dimethyl fumarate) can stay...

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