Existence: Life sciences and healthcare newsletter

Welcome to the Setember 2010 edition of Existence, the quarterly newsletter on Life Sciences & Healthcare issues.

The newsletter has been put together by our Life Sciences & Healthcare Group, which is highly specialised in IP, regulatory, corporate and licensing issues.

In this issue of Existence following topics are discussed:

Concept of Nanomaterials

This article looks at the problems involved in agreeing upon an EU-wide definition of nanomaterials and how the different EU institutions regard nanomaterials. Read more >

Monsanto & Syngenta Merger

In June 2010, the European Commission decided to open an in-depth investigation in the acquisition of the global sunflower seed business of US company Monsanto by Syngenta of Switzerland. This article looks at some of the unusual issues involved in this case and how this might affect the decision of the European Commission, due by 26 October 2010. Read more >

Patent settlements in EU pharma sector

The European Commission has published a report on the monitoring of patent settlements in the EU pharmaceutical sector, which concludes, amongst other things, that the number of out-of-court settlements has not decreased in favour of court litigation. Read more >

EU court sets limits on GMO patents: Monsanto v Cefetra case (C-428/08)

In this case dealing with the scope patent protection on a DNA sequence, the ECJ drove home the point that a patentable invention must be carefully defined , as this could affect its legal protection in the future. Read more >

Patents on Nanomaterials: to be continued...

This article looks at what is required to obtain a patent for nanotechnologies. Read more >

New legal provisions published about patient follow-up programs

In France, two new decrees and two orders relating to therapeutic education have been published following on from the “hospitals, patients, healthcare and territories” (HPST) Law, published in 2009. Read more >

English courts consider the scope of supplementary protection certificates for combination drugs

This article looks at the cases of Re Medeva’s SPC applications [2010] and Yeda Research and Development Company Ltd v Comptroller General of Patents [2010]. Read more >

Trade mark protection for scientific names

A recent decision of the General Court of the European Union (formerly the Court of First Instance) has reaffirmed the difficulty of obtaining trade mark registrations for signs comprising the scientific names of products or constituent elements of the products. Read more >

Stents and Valves: Cook Biotech Incorporated v. Edwards Lifesciences AG

One of the key factors of this patent dispute was the argument over the definition of the expression “radially expandable stent” to decide whether the argued differences between two patents were sufficient to make the disputed patent inventive. Read more >

Existence aims to report on regulatory developments in sectors such as pharmaceuticals, medical devices, cosmetics, bio- and nanotech, on issues related to intellectual property and on company/sector news. We hope you enjoy reading it and we are happy to address any comments or questions on any of the subject matters, either through your usual contact at Field Fisher Waterhouse or through any of the contacts listed in this newsletter.

You can also read our other publications such as our IP newsletter, snIPpets, the Public and Regulatory alerter, our patents newsletter Innovate and numerous alerts on hot topics.

For further information, please contact Jon Matthews - Editor or Jan Grillet - Editor.