Lack of Efficacy Data in Prior Art Dooms PTAB’s Unpatentability Finding for Method of Cancer Treatment Claims

Oct 10, 2019

Reading Time : 2 min

The patent at issue is directed to a method of treating non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) by administering erlotinib, a compound that inhibits the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). The patentability of several of the patent claims were challenged in an inter partes review petition, which the Board instituted. The Board ultimately found the challenged claims obvious over two prior art combinations. According to the Board, the combination of prior art references Schnur and Gibbs or Schnur and Patent Owner’s Form 10-K rendered the claims obvious.

On appeal, the Federal Circuit reversed, concluding that the Board’s finding of a “reasonable expectation of success” was not supported by substantial evidence.

As an initial matter, the court held that the Board misinterpreted one of the asserted references, Gibbs, when it found that Gibbs disclosed a “clear inference” that “erlotinib has anti-cancer activity against [NSCLC].” In reaching its decision, the court faulted the Board for failing to carefully consider the two internal references cited in Gibbs to support the statement in Gibbs that compounds have anti-cancer activity in patients with NSCLC. Only one of the two references even mentions NSCLC, but it does not mention erlotinib at all. Thus, properly “[r]eading Gibbs in the context of its cited articles,” the court explained, “reveals that this statement cannot be referring to erlotinib.” The court also faulted the Board for not properly considering a declaration submitted by Dr. Gibbs himself stating he was not aware of a publication discussing erlotinib’s effect on NSCLC at the time Gibbs was published.

Next, the court addressed the Board’s finding that the asserted combinations would have provided a person of ordinary skill with a reasonable expectation of success in using erlotinib to treat NSCLC. In rejecting that determination, the court pointed out that the asserted references “contain no data or other promising information regarding erlotinib’s efficacy in treating NSCLC.” Specifically, the court found that while Schnur broadly discloses over a hundred compounds for treating 12 different types of cancer, it “fails to disclose any in vitro or in vivo efficacy data for erlotinib or otherwise suggest the use of erlotinib to treat NSCLC.” The court further noted that Gibbs fails to cure these deficiencies because it only discloses that erlotinib inhibits the EGFR and has good anti-cancer activity only in certain cancers, not including NSCLC. Regarding Patent Owner’s Form 10-K, the court explained that although the 10-K states that erlotinib had completed Phase I clinical trials, “nothing in [Patent Owner’s] 10-K suggest[s] the existence of erlotinib preclinical efficacy data that is specific to NSCLC.” Finally, given the undisputed fact that NSCLC is highly unpredictable with an over 99.5 percent failure rate for drugs entering Phase II clinical studies, the court concluded that the asserted references “provide no more than hope—and hope that a potentially promising drug will treat a particular cancer is not enough to create a reasonable expectation of success.”

OSI Pharms., LLC v. Apotex Inc., No. 2018-1925, slip op. (Fed. Cir. Oct. 4, 2019)

Practice Tip: In defending against an obviousness challenge to method of treatment claims reciting efficacy, a patent owner should carefully assess whether the asserted references provide any in vitro or in vivo data showing the claimed method is efficacious. If the references lack efficacy data, the patent owner should point to that omission in arguing no “reasonable expectation of success.” A patent owner should also consider bolstering its argument by submitting evidence of clinical trial failures to show the unpredictability of the claimed treatment method.

Share This Insight

Previous Entries

IP Newsflash

October 1, 2025

In a recent final written decision, the PTAB determined that a reference patent was not prior art, despite the petitioner’s post‑filing attempt to correct its petition. While the petitioner argued that it intended to rely on the patent application’s earlier date of publication, both the corrected petition and the expert declaration continued to reference the issued patent rather than the published application.

...

Read More

IP Newsflash

September 30, 2025

The USPTO Director recently granted a petitioner’s request for rehearing of the decision discretionarily denying institution of inter partes review, ultimately vacating the original decision, and referring the petition to the board for an institution decision.

...

Read More

IP Newsflash

September 25, 2025

In considering claims to a method of reducing cardiovascular events, the Federal Circuit held that the term a “clinically proven effective” amount did not render the claims patentable over the prior art. Specifically, the Federal Circuit held that the “clinically proven effective” amount, whether limiting or not, could not be used to distinguish the prior art because the claims also specified the exact amount of the drugs to be administered in the method. The Federal Circuit also rejected patentee’s evidence of unexpected results because that evidence was tied solely to the “clinically proven effective” limitation.

...

Read More

IP Newsflash

September 24, 2025

The Federal Circuit reversed a district court’s denial of judgment as a matter of law on non-infringement, thereby setting aside a $106 million jury verdict, after holding that prosecution history estoppel barred the patentee from asserting infringement under the doctrine of equivalents.

...

Read More

IP Newsflash

September 17, 2025

A magistrate judge in the District of Delaware issued a Report and Recommendation, that found the sole asserted claim was a “single means” claim and therefore invalid for lack of enablement. In reaching that conclusion, the magistrate judge rejected the patentee’s argument that the preamble of the claim disclosed a second element that satisfied the combination requirement of Section 112, paragraph 6 because the preamble simply recited a descriptor of the very apparatus that was the subject of the means-plus-function limitation in the body of the claim. The district court judge presiding over this case has scheduled a hearing to review the magistrate’s ruling.

...

Read More

IP Newsflash

September 9, 2025

The Federal Circuit has affirmed the PTAB’s determination that a patent challenger did not show the challenged claims were unpatentable for obviousness. The Federal Circuit concluded that substantial evidence, which included expert testimony, showed there was no motivation to combine the references.

...

Read More

IP Newsflash

August 29, 2025

In a recent order addressing four IPR proceedings, the PTAB exercised its inherent authority under 37 C.F.R. § 42.5(a) to sua sponte authorize post-hearing discovery on a potentially dispositive privity issue. The order followed a Director review decision that vacated and remanded earlier IPRs involving the same parties, patent family, and privity issue. 

...

Read More

IP Newsflash

August 29, 2025

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board denied institution of an inter partes review petition in part because it determined that a patent reference was not prior art under the common ownership exception of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. § 103(c)(1).

...

Read More

© 2025 Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP. All rights reserved. Attorney advertising. This document is distributed for informational use only; it does not constitute legal advice and should not be used as such. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Akin is the practicing name of Akin Gump LLP, a New York limited liability partnership authorized and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority under number 267321. A list of the partners is available for inspection at Eighth Floor, Ten Bishops Square, London E1 6EG. For more information about Akin Gump LLP, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP and other associated entities under which the Akin Gump network operates worldwide, please see our Legal Notices page.