On February 14, 2024, Seagen requested director review of the PTAB's January 16th Final Written Decision ("FWD") in PGR2021-00030 finding antibody-drug conjugate claims in U.S. Patent No. 10,808,039 (the "'039 patent") unpatentable. See PTAB Issues Final Written Decision Finding Seagen's Adcetris® Patent Claims Unpatentable.
In support of the request to vacate the FWD, Seagen argued that because the '039 patent claims priority to a parent application filed in 2004 (before the effective date of the AIA) and none of the subsequent continuation applications in the family introduced new matter, the '039 patent was not eligible for PGR and thus the PTAB lacked jurisdiction. While Seagen raised the issue of PGR eligibility prior to PGR Institution, the merits were not addressed directly in the FWD.
We continue to monitor this case and will provide updates as they become available. For more information about this and other biosimilar patent disputes, visit BiologicsHQ.
The authors would like to thank April Breyer Menon for her contributions to this article.
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