Antibody Claims: Patent Eligibility and Written Description Issues


Summary

The rise of antibody-based treatments in the pharmaceuticals market has been accompanied by developments in U.S. patent law that may adversely affect the scope of intellectual property protections available for such treatments. Some of those developments concern the basic patent eligibility requirement of 35 U.S.C. § 101. Others concern the written description and enablement requirements of 35 U.S.C. § 112. This practice note summarizes both sets of developments and provides some practical advice on how antibody patentees can address them.