Pfizer ‘559 patent ruled ‘unpatentable’ after Merck challenge

Merck (MRK) filed a petition to institute an inter partes review of claims 1-10, 16-19, and 38-45 of U.S. Patent No. 9,492,559 held by Pfizer (PFE) and the USPTO has determined following arguments at an oral hearing that Merck has “shown by a preponderance of the evidence that claims 1-10, 16-19, and 38-45 of the ‘559 patent are unpatentable,” according to a final decision posted to the USPTO website. The ‘559 patent involves vaccines for “vaccination of human subjects, in particular infants and elderly, against pneumoccocal infections.”

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