Galderma Laboratories, L.P. v. Amneal Pharmaceuticals LLC

CourtCourt of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
DecidedMarch 25, 2020
Docket19-1021
StatusUnpublished

This text of Galderma Laboratories, L.P. v. Amneal Pharmaceuticals LLC (Galderma Laboratories, L.P. v. Amneal Pharmaceuticals LLC) 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
Galderma Laboratories, L.P. v. Amneal Pharmaceuticals LLC, (Fed. Cir. 2020).

Opinion

Case: 19-1021 Document: 90 Page: 1 Filed: 03/25/2020

NOTE: This disposition is nonprecedential.

United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ______________________

GALDERMA LABORATORIES, L.P., NESTLE SKIN HEALTH S.A., TCD ROYALTY SUB LLC, Plaintiffs-Appellees

v.

AMNEAL PHARMACEUTICALS LLC, AMNEAL PHARMACEUTICALS CO. (I) PVT. LTD., NKA AMNEAL PHARMACEUTICALS PVT. LTD., Defendants-Appellants ______________________

2019-1021 ______________________

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Delaware in No. 1:16-cv-00207-LPS, Chief Judge Leonard P. Stark. ______________________

Decided: March 25, 2020 ______________________

GERALD J. FLATTMANN, JR., King & Spalding LLP, New York, NY, argued for plaintiffs-appellees. Also represented by EVAN D. DIAMOND, VANESSA YEN.

GEORGE C. LOMBARDI, Winston & Strawn LLP, Chi- cago, IL, argued for defendants-appellants. Also Case: 19-1021 Document: 90 Page: 2 Filed: 03/25/2020

represented by MAUREEN L. RURKA, KEVIN E. WARNER; EIMERIC REIG-PLESSIS, San Francisco, CA. ______________________

Before LOURIE, MOORE, and STOLL, Circuit Judges. MOORE, Circuit Judge. Appellees Galderma Laboratories, L.P., Nestle Skin Health S.A., and TCD Royalty Sub LLC (collectively, Gal- derma) sued Amneal Pharmaceuticals, LLC and Amneal Pharmaceuticals Co. (I) Pvt. Ltd. (n/k/a Amneal Pharma- ceuticals Pvt. Ltd.) (collectively, Amneal) for infringement of U.S. Patent Nos. 8,206,740, 8,394,405, and 8,470,364 (collectively, the Chang Patents) and U.S. Patent Nos. 8,603,506 and 9,241,946 (collectively, the Ashley II Pa- tents). The Chang and Ashley II Patents relate to low-dose doxycycline formulations to treat, among other diseases, acne or rosacea. Following a bench trial, the district court found that Amneal’s product infringes the asserted claims under the doctrine of equivalents. Amneal appeals. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1295(a)(1). For the rea- sons discussed below, we affirm the district court’s judg- ment as to infringement of the Chang Patents and reverse the district court’s judgment as to infringement of the Ash- ley II Patents. DISCUSSION Following a bench trial, we review a district court’s con- clusions of law de novo and factual findings for clear error. Senju Pharm. Co., v. Lupin Ltd., 780 F.3d 1337, 1341 (Fed. Cir. 2015). Prosecution history estoppel and claim vitiation are issues of law we review de novo. Trading Techs. Int’l v. Open E Cry, LLC, 728 F.3d 1309, 1318 (Fed. Cir. 2013); Cadence Pharm. Inc. v. Exela Pharmsci Inc., 780 F.3d 1364, 1368 (Fed. Cir. 2015). Prosecution history estoppel “may be subject to underlying facts,” which we review for clear error. DePuy Spine, Inc. v. Medtronic Sofamor Danek, Inc., 567 F.3d 1314, 1324 (Fed. Cir. 2009). We review Case: 19-1021 Document: 90 Page: 3 Filed: 03/25/2020

GALDERMA LABS., L.P. v. AMNEAL PHARMS. LLC 3

infringement under the doctrine of equivalents for clear er- ror. Conoco, Inc. v. Energy & Envtl Int’l, 460 F.3d 1349, 1357 (Fed. Cir. 2006). I The Chang Patents The Chang Patents describe compositions of doxycy- cline with an Immediate Release (IR) component and a De- layed Release (DR) component, combined into one unit for once-daily dosing. Claim 1 of the ’740 patent is illustrative: 1. An oral pharmaceutical composition of doxycy- cline, which at a once-daily dosage will give steady state blood levels of doxycycline of a minimum of 0.1 μg/ml and a maximum of 1.0 μg/ml, the compo- sition consisting of (i) an immediate release (IR) portion comprising 30 mg doxycycline; (ii) a de- layed release (DR) portion comprising 10 mg doxycycline; and optionally, (iii) one or more phar- maceutically acceptable excipients. “Immediate release” or IR is defined by the ’740 patent as “a dosage form that is intended to release substantially all of the active ingredient on administration with no en- hanced, delayed or extended release effect.” ’740 patent at 4:5–8. “Delayed release” or DR is not expressly defined. In June 2013, Amneal filed a petition for inter partes review of the Chang ’740 and ’405 patents, which the Board instituted in December 2013. During the inter partes re- view, Patent Owner 1 sought to distinguish the claimed DR portion from the prior-art secondary loading portion of

1 The inter partes review proceedings were between Amneal Pharmaceuticals, LLC and Supernus Pharmaceu- ticals, Inc., the previous assignee of the Chang patents. The proceedings as to the ’740 and ’405 patents were con- solidated. We refer to the ’740 proceeding throughout. Case: 19-1021 Document: 90 Page: 4 Filed: 03/25/2020

slow-release pellets that begin dissolving in the stomach as disclosed in U.S. Patent No. 5,348,748 (Sheth). It argued that “‘a DR portion’ as claimed in the Chang ’740 patent requires no substantial release from the portion until some time other than promptly after administration – and in particular, until after the DR portion passes through the acidic stomach and sections of the GI tract below pH 4.5.” J.A. 2560 (emphasis in original); see also J.A. 16958–61, J.A. 2749. It further argued that Sheth’s “secondary load- ing” portion was “intentionally designed to be ‘leaky’ in the stomach,” but that “the Chang ’740 patent expressly states that for the ‘DR portion’ described and claimed therein, ‘there is no substantial release of doxycycline in the acidic stomach environment of approximately below pH 4.5.’” J.A. 16957–58 (emphasis in original). Patent Owner argued that “the approach taught by Sheth is substantially different from the claimed IR/DR formulations of the Chang ’740 patent, and in fact would teach away from the claimed formulations of the Chang ’740 patent.” J.A. 16953 ¶ 170 (emphasis in original); J.A. 2189 at 53:22–24 (Sheth “shows a substantial portion is dissolving in the acidic en- vironment of the stomach. The point is that’s not delayed release.”). The Board rejected Patent Owner’s argument and in- stead agreed with Amneal “that the broadest reasonable construction of ‘delayed release,’ in light of the specification of the ’740 patent, is not limited to formulations requiring that there be no substantial release in the stomach.” J.A. 17023. It stated that “[t]he portion of the ’740 patent spec- ification upon which [Patent Owner] relies to support its narrower construction addresses properties of ‘enteric coated pellets,’ not a delayed-release component.” Id. Be- cause the ’740 patent discloses formats other than enteric coated pellets as being delayed-release components, the Board would “not read the limitations of an embodiment, even a preferred embodiment, into the construction of a Case: 19-1021 Document: 90 Page: 5 Filed: 03/25/2020

GALDERMA LABS., L.P. v. AMNEAL PHARMS. LLC 5

claim term that is plainly used elsewhere in the specifica- tion more broadly.” Id. (citing In re Bigio, 381 F.3d 1320, 1325 (Fed. Cir. 2004)). After reviewing “other evidence of how the term is understood and used by persons of ordinary skill in the art,” the Board construed “delayed release” to mean “release of a drug at a time other than immediately following oral administration.” J.A. 17024.

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