Ground-breaking declaratory relief from English High Court clears the route to market for Humira biosimilar

4 March 2017

On Friday morning, a judgment was handed down in the hard-fought litigation between Japan’s Fujifilm Kyowa Kirin Biologics (FKB) and the USA’s AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV).

For the first time, a UK court has granted declaratory relief to a company trying to launch a product in the face of a myriad of patent applications in order to protect it against later infringement claims. FKB’s claim was led by Gowling WLG Partners.

While the Patents Act 1977 provides no mechanism for challenging the validity of patent applications in the UK courts, the High Court has today found an answer.

This article is accessible to registered users, to continue reading please register for free. A free trial will give you access to exclusive features, interviews, round-ups and commentary from the sharpest minds in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology space for a week. If you are already a registered user please login. If your trial has come to an end, you can subscribe here.

Try before you buy

Free

7 day trial access

Take a Free Trial

All the news that moves the needle in pharma and biotech
Exclusive features, podcasts, interviews, data analyses and commentary from our global network of life sciences reporters.
Receive The Pharma Letter daily news bulletin, free forever.

Become a subscriber

£820

Or £77 per month

Subscribe Now

Unfettered access to industry-leading news, commentary and analysis in pharma and biotech.
Updates from clinical trials, conferences, M&A, licensing, financing, regulation, patents & legal, executive appointments, commercial strategy and financial results.
Daily roundup of key events in pharma and biotech.
Monthly in-depth briefings on Boardroom appointments and M&A news.
Choose from a cost-effective annual package or a flexible monthly subscription

The Pharma Letter is an extremely useful and valuable Life Sciences service that brings together a daily update on performance people and products. It’s part of the key information for keeping me informed

Chairman, Sanofi Aventis UK