Hedge Fund Boss Eyes Toenail Fungus Drug To Drive Down Price — Or Stock
Also in the news, a challenge to a biotech patent on a biologic drug could set up a fight over a new process at the U.S. patent office.
The San Francisco Business Times:
Patent Pirate Or Drug Cost Savior? Hedge Fund Boss Targets Anacor Drug
A hedge fund manager and his patent-trolling partner are targeting Anacor Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s toenail fungus drug in their latest attempt — according to one side or the other — to drive down the price of the drug or the stock. The Coalition for Affordable Drugs, formed by Hayman Capital Management principal J. Kyle Bass with Erich Spangenberg, best known for a series of patent suits against Silicon Valley tech companies, won a victory Tuesday when the federal Patent Trial and Appeal Board decided to hold inter partes review, or IPR, proceedings on challenges to two Anacor patents. (Leuty, 2/25)
The San Francisco Business Times:
Cabilly's Last Stand: The Newest Challenge To Biotech's Biggest Patent
A patent that dates back more than three decades and covers a key step in the manufacturing process for antibodies is being challenged yet again. But this time, it’s through a new process at the U.S. patent office that may prove more difficult to defend against. The so-called Cabilly Patents — named after inventor Shmuel Cabilly, a scientist at City of Hope cancer center in Duarte, California in the 1980s — cover a fundamental step in making biologic drugs using mammalian cell culture. First awarded by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in 1983 to the company now considered the pioneer of the biotech industry — South San Francisco-based Genentech Inc. — the family of patents is now owned by Swiss drug maker Roche, which bought out Genentech in 2009 for $47 billion. (Seiffert, 2/24)