Professor Jake Sherkow spoke to Bloomberg Law on several occasions in February, regarding patent lawsuits that are making their way through the courts.
One of the lawsuits, filed by Novo Nordisk A/S against Hims & Hers Health Inc., takes aim at the practice of drug compounding and highlights the ambiguity between the FDA’s compounding framework and US patent law. Sherkow said that the lawsuit demonstrates that compounding pharmacies and direct-to-consumer telehealth platforms have grown from “minuscule operations” into “real players” that brand-name drugmakers now view as worth targeting in patent litigation. Read more from Sherkow on this case at bloomberglaw.com.
Another lawsuit, filed by BioNTech SE against Moderna Inc., claims patent infringement involving mRNA vaccine technology.
“This is typical of cutting-edge technology as it matures,” Sherkow said. “The original patents—and patent disputes—are often about using the technology more broadly, with one or few early entrants suing manufacturers. As the technology develops—and that first generation of patents gets older—we see more, albeit narrower, patenting focusing on specific products, and a great number of patent holders suing (and cross-suing) other manufacturers.” Read more from Sherkow on this case at bloomberglaw.com.