What's Going On With Kyle Bass And Biogen?

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board instituted an inter partes review (IPR) petition from Kyle Bass' Coalition for Affordable Drugs challenging a patent covering multiple sclerosis drug Tecfidera dimethyl fumarate from Biogen Inc (NASDAQ: BIIB), according to a report on Biocentury.com.

IPR is a procedure for challenging the validity of a U.S. patent before the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

Hedge fund investor Kyle Bass formed Coalition for Affordable Drugs (CFAD), which challenges several patents filed with the USPTO. The CFAD has challenged patents of several pharma companies including Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ: CELG), Jazz Pharmaceuticals plc (NASDAQ: JAZZ) and Acorda Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ: ACOR).

The report said Bass challenged U.S. Patent No. 8,399,514, which covers the use of 480 mg of dimethyl fumarate to treat multiple sclerosis and expires in 2028.

PTAB found that prior art introduced by the coalition provided "convincing evidence" of how to arrive at the appropriate dose to treat autoimmune diseases, the report highlighted.

As of October 2015, CFAD has filed 33 petitions for IPR, some of them multiple petitions against the same patent, and there have been 17 institution decisions by the PTAB, according to a report on PTABWatch.

Of the 17 institution decisions, 10 of the petitions have been denied, and seven have been granted, for a denial rate of approximately 59 percent, the PTAB report added.