Gilead patent setback could limit protection for innovative combinations

UK-based drugmaker Accord Healthcare has won a key decision in the English High Court, paving the way for generic rivals to Gilead’s (Nasdaq: GILD) antiretroviral product Truvada (emtricitabine/tenofovir).

The latest chapter in a long-running dispute between the Californian drugmaker and generic firms, the court found that a Supplementary Protection Certificate (SPC) for Truvada was invalid, upholding similar decisions in the Court of Justice of the European Union.

The decision could impact other makers of combination anti-HIV treatments. Joseph Lenthall, a partner at Mewburn Ellis, told The Pharma Letter that the verdict “reinforces the jurisprudence that an SPC for a combination product cannot be based on a patent which does not relate 'necessarily and specifically' to that combination.”