Kaye Scholer Successfully Defends Pfizer's Celebrex® Patent

On March 21, 2007, a federal judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey found that Pfizer Inc.'s patents for celecoxib, the active ingredient in Celebrex®, for formulations containing celecoxib and for methods of treatment using celecoxib are valid and enforceable, and are infringed by Teva Pharmaceuticals U.S.A., Inc. Teva sought to produce and market a generic version of Pfizer's blockbuster drug Celebrex® for the treatment of osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. The Court found that Teva failed to prove obviousness, inequitable conduct, a violation of the best mode requirement, or obvious-type double patenting by clear and convincing evidence. Thus, the patents-in-suit are neither invalid nor unenforceable, and Teva has infringed the patents.

The Kaye Scholer team included Daniel L. Reisner, Jeffrey H. Horowitz, Abigail L. Langsam and Daniel Forchheimer, all in the Patent Litigation Department, and scientific advisors Anthony Khong and Karl Dresdner.