Context:
- In 2020, Pharmascience sought regulatory approval in Canada for a generic version of Janssen Pharmaceuticals’ antipsychotic drug1, and Janssen responded with a patent infringement suit in the country’s Federal Court.
- Pharmascience argued that Janssen’s patent, which includes claims directed towards specific dosages, was invalid as it described methods of medical treatment. Such methods are not patentable under Canadian law.
- In August 2022, the Federal Court found Janssen’s patent not invalid, and the Federal Court of Appeal affirmed that finding in February 2024. Pharmascience made a final appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada in April 2024.
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Counsel
Pharmascience was represented by Goodmans’ Harry B. Radomski, Andrew Brodkin, Sandon Shogilev, and Daniel Cappe; and Nelligan Law’s Andrew Montague-Reinholdt.
Janssen was represented by Belmore Neidrauer’s Marian Wolanski, Oleyna Strigul, and Megan Pocalyuko; Blake, Cassels & Graydon’s Catherine Beagan Flood and Fiona Legere; and Supreme Advocacy’s Marie-France Major.
- Containing paliperidone palmitate, marketed as a treatment for schizophrenia under the brand name Invega Sustenna. ↩︎