BRIEF—Argentum succeeds in starting patent cancellation trial against Valeant's Jublia

The US Patent & Trademark Office (PTO) has granted Argentum Pharmaceuticals’ petition for inter partes review (IPR) against all patent claims in the first patent listed in the Food and Drug Administration's Orange Book as covering Canadian drugmaker Valeant Pharmaceuticals International's Jublia (efinaconazole topical solution 10%), which is FDA-approved for the treatment of onychomycosis of the toenails.

US privately owned generic drugmaker Argentum is challenging all claims of US Patent No 7,214,506 ('506 patent).

In granting Argentum's petition, the PTO concluded that Argentum "has established a reasonable likelihood that it would prevail in showing the unpatentability of each of the challenged claims of the '506 patent."

The decision marks the beginning of an IPR trial that will be conducted by three specialist patent judges within the PTO's Patent Trial & Appeal Board, according to Argentum.

A final decision on patentability in the IPR is due by May 1, 2018.