Prohibition Application Re Olopatadine Patent Dismissed For Lack Of Sound Prediction

In her February 14th decision of Alcon Canada Inc v. Cobalt Pharmaceuticals Company (2014 FC 149), Justice Gleason of the Federal Court denied Alcon's application for an order of prohibition with respect to its PATADAY® product. PATADAY®, used to treat allergic and inflammatory eye reactions, contains a 0.2% solution of olopatadine. The validity of Canadian Patent 2,447,924 was at issue in this proceeding.

The '924 Patent

The relevant claims of the '924 Patent claimed pharmaceutical compositions for the treatment of allergic or inflammatory disorders of the eye and nose comprising olopatadine and the excipient PVP, where the composition does not contain any of five named "excluded excipients". The two claims at issue in this proceeding (claims 2 and 7) both claimed allowable molecular weight ranges for PVP (5,000-1,600,000), and ranges of allowable olopatadine concentrations in the composition.

The Promise

...