BIA cleared to intervene in Supreme Court patent 'plausibility' case

The UK BioIndustry Association (BIA) has been granted permission by the Supreme Court to intervene in its review of Warner-Lambert Company LLC v Generics (UK) Ltd and Actavis.

The subject of the case is the drug pregabalin, which Warner-Lambert, now part of US pharma giant Pfizer (NYSE: PFE), marketed under its trade mark Lyrica for the treatment of neuropathic pain, as well as for its previously known indications of general anxiety disorder (GAD) and epilepsy.

The review will examine the  issue of “plausibility” in patent law and could potentially impact the amount of data and evidence required before an invention can be patented. The BIA has intervened in the case to highlight the importance of the issue to the UK’s bioscience sector.