HELSINN HEALTHCARE S. A., Petitioner v. TEVA PHARMACEUTICALS USA, INC., et al., 586 U.S. 123

Summary

HOLDINGS: [1]-The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit properly found that a Swiss pharmaceutical company was prohibited by the "on sale" bar in 35 U.S.C.S. § 102(a)(1) from obtaining a U.S. patent on a drug that treated chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting because it entered into a license agreement and a supply and purchase agreement with a Minnesota pharmaceutical company to sell the drug in the United States more than a year before it applied for a U.S. patent; [2]-Although the Swiss company and the Minnesota company did not disclose the dosage of the active ingredient that was in the drug, they disclosed the existence of both agreements, and that disclosure qualified as "prior art" under § 102(a)(1) for purposes of determining the patentability of the drug.