Angiotech wins patent appeal in UK high court

Angiotech Pharmaceuticals, a Canadian specialty drug and medical device company, says that the UK House of Lords has confirmed the validity of the patent on its paclitaxel stent inventions.

The patent was granted to Angiotech by the European Patent Office on June 25, 1997, preceeding nine years of legal battles with five different companies over its validity. On February 1, 2005, Angiotech commenced a suit against Conor Medsystems in the Netherlands, which it won. Conor responded by starting proceedings in the UK to revoke the patent. Both the UK trial court and the Court of Appeal decided that the patent was invalid in view of several publications. Angiotech appealed the lower court decisions to the House of Lords seeking to resolve these inconsistent outcomes. The court decided to uphold Angiotech's patent and overturned the previous verdicts of the lower courts.