McAndrews Secures Unanimous Appellate Decision in Abbott’s Ongoing Patent Infringement Litigation
06.26.13
In Wyeth and Cordis Corp. v. Abbott Labs, App. Nos. 2012-1223;-1224, the U.S. Court of Appeals for
The Federal Circuit affirmed the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey in a case involving drug-eluting stents used in the treatment of coronary artery disease. The district court granted McAndrews’
client Abbott’s (NYSE: ABT) motions for summary judgment of patent invalidity. The district court
ruled that the asserted patents were invalid for failing to satisfy the written description and enablement
requirements of the patent statute, 35 U.S.C. § 112. McAndrews’ attorneys likened the lack of practical
disclosure in the patent to the disclosure of a trip to the moon depicted in a Jules Verne science fiction
novel. The destination may have been disclosed, but the practical means of getting there were simply
omitted. The plaintiffs, Cordis and Wyeth, appealed.
Affirming the District Court’s judgment, Federal Circuit Judge Kimberly Moore, writing for the unanimous
panel, stated, “(b)ecause we hold that there is no genuine issue of material fact that the specification
does not enable one of ordinary skill to practice the asserted claims without undue experimentation, we
affirm.” Cordis and Wyeth subsequently filed petitions for rehearing and rehearing en banc, which were
both denied.
This was a significant victory for Abbott and McAndrews. In the suit, Cordis and Wyeth sought both
injunctive relief and damages for sales of Abbott’s marketleading drug-eluting stent – Xience V, which
represented billions of dollars in sales for the healthcare products company. McAndrews’ successful
defense of Abbott in this case protected the commercial availability of Xience V for both doctors and
patients.