BAYER SCHERING PHARMA AG v. Lupin, Ltd.

676 F.3d 1316, 2012 WL 1255034
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
DecidedApril 16, 2012
Docket2011-1143, 2011-1228
StatusPublished
Cited by33 cases

This text of 676 F.3d 1316 (BAYER SCHERING PHARMA AG v. Lupin, Ltd.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
BAYER SCHERING PHARMA AG v. Lupin, Ltd., 676 F.3d 1316, 2012 WL 1255034 (Fed. Cir. 2012).

Opinions

Opinion for the court filed by Circuit Judge BRYSON.

Dissenting opinion filed by Circuit Judge NEWMAN.

BRYSON, Circuit Judge.

Bayer Schering Pharma AG and Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals, Inc., (collectively, “Bayer”) appeal from two judgments of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. In the first case, the court dismissed Bayer’s patent infringement claims against Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and Watson Laboratories, Inc., (collectively, ‘Watson”) and Sandoz, Inc. In the second case, the court dismissed similar patent infringement claims against Lupin Ltd. and Lupin Pharmaceuticals, Inc., (collectively, “Lupin”). We affirm.

I

The Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act of 1984 (“the Hatch-Waxman Act”), Pub. L. No. 98-417, 98 Stat. 1585, creates a procedure by which a drug manufacturer can obtain permission from the Food and Drug Adminis[1318]*1318tration (“FDA”) to market a generic version of a previously approved drug. A manufacturer seeking to market a generic drug is entitled to submit an Abbreviated New Drug Application (“ANDA”), rather than submitting a full New Drug Application (“NDA”). Eli Lilly & Co. v. Teva Pharm. USA, Inc., 557 F.3d 1346, 1348 (Fed.Cir.2009). The ANDA process streamlines FDA approval by allowing the generic manufacturer to rely on the safety and efficacy studies of a drug that has previously been approved upon a showing that the generic version and the relevant listed drug share the same active ingredients and are bioequivalent. Caraco Pharm. Labs., Ltd. v. Forest Labs., Inc., 527 F.3d 1278,1282 (Fed.Cir.2008).

In the case of drugs that enjoy patent protection, the Hatch-Waxman Act creates a mechanism that allows for prompt judicial determination of whether the ANDA applicant’s drug or method of using the drug infringes a valid patent. The Act makes it an act of infringement to file an ANDA for a drug or for a use of the drug that is claimed in a patent. 35 U.S.C. § 271(e)(2)(A). That “artificial” act of infringement creates jurisdiction for a court to entertain an action by the patentee against the ANDA applicant in which issues of patent infringement and validity can be resolved. Warner-Lambert Co. v. Apotex Corp., 316 F.3d 1348, 1365 (Fed.Cir.2003).

The Hatch-Waxman Act requires an NDA applicant seeking FDA approval for a drug that enjoys patent protection to identify every patent that claims the drug or a use of the drug that could reasonably be asserted in an infringement action. 21 U.S.C. § 355(b)(1). The FDA lists the patents identified by the NDA applicant in a publication entitled Approved Drug Products With Therapeutic Equivalence Evaluations, which is universally referred to in the industry as the “Orange Book.” In the case of patents claiming methods of use, FDA regulations provide that only patents claiming “indications or other conditions of use” that either have been approved by the FDA or are in a pending NDA are to be submitted for listing in the Orange Book. 21 C.F.R. § 314.53(b).

When an applicant files an ANDA seeking FDA permission to market a generic drug, it is required to address each patent in the Orange Book that relates to that drug. Eli Lilly & Co., 557 F.3d at 1348. For method-of-use patents that will not expire prior to the proposed marketing of the generic drug, the ANDA applicant has two options.

First, the ANDA applicant can include a statement, known as a “section viii statement,” that the applicant is not seeking approval for the method of use that is claimed in the patent. 21 U.S.C. § 355(J)(2)(A)(viii). When submitting a section viii statement, the ANDA applicant must include a proposed label that removes or “carves out” the claimed method of use. See AstraZeneca LP v. Apotex, Inc., 633 F.3d 1042, 1046 (Fed.Cir.2010). The FDA will approve an ANDA with a section viii statement only if (1) there is no overlap between the proposed label submitted by the ANDA applicant and the use described in the Orange Book, and (2) removing the information about the claimed method of use from the label does not render the drug less safe or effective. See 21 C.F.R. § 314.127(a)(7); see also Applications for FDA Approval to Market a New Drug, 68 Fed. Reg. 36,676, 36,682 (June 18, 2003) (“A section viii statement would not be appropriate [when] the ANDA applicant is seeking approval for exactly the same labeling as that in the NDA for which the patent was submitted.”).

[1319]*1319Second, the ANDA applicant can file a “paragraph IV certification,” which states that the patent “is invalid or will not be infringed by the manufacture, use, or sale” of the generic drug. 21 U.S.C. § 355(j)(2)(A)(vn)(IV); see Novo Nordisk A/S v. Carneo Pharmaceutical Laboratories, Ltd., 601 F.3d 1359, 1361 (Fed.Cir. 2010). If the ANDA applicant files a paragraph IV certification, it must also send a notice letter so advising the holder of the original NDA and the patent owner. 21 U.S.C. § 355(j)(2)(B).

For method-of-use patents, the “artificial” infringement claim provided by section 271(e)(2)(A) lies only against a patented use that has been approved by the FDA. Warner-Lambert, 316 F.3d at 1356. As this court explained in the Warner-Lambert case, “because an ANDA may not seek approval for an unapproved or off-label use of a drug under 21 U.S.C. § 355(j)(2)(A)(i), it necessarily follows that 35 U.S.C. § 271(e)(2)(A) does not apply to a use patent claiming only such a use.” Id.; see also AstraZeneca Pharm. LP v. Apotex Corp., 669 F.3d 1370,1377-78 (Fed. Cir.2012); Allergan, Inc. v. Alcon Labs., Inc., 324 F.3d 1322, 1334 (Fed.Cir.2003).

II

Bayer produces and markets Yasmin, an oral contraceptive. In 2001, the FDA approved the new drug application for Yasmin that was filed by Bayer’s predecessor, Berlex Laboratories, Inc.

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