Medicines Co. files second suit against PTO

The Medicines Co. (NASDAQ:MDCO) filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia against the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, FDA and HHS seeking to set aside the PTO's March 19 denial of the company's application to extend the term of a patent for anticoagulant Angiomax bivalirudin. Medicines Co. is asking the court to instruct the PTO to accept the company's patent term extension application as timely and extend the term of the patent. Before denying the extension, PTO granted an interim extension to May 23 from March 23 to ensure that the patent does not expire pending further resolution of the proceedings. Medicines Co. is seeking to extend the term of the patent to December 2014.

The PTO originally denied the application for the extension, claiming the company had missed the filing deadline by two days. On March 16, Judge Claude Hilton of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia said the PTO erred in the date it used for the first day of the 60-day period to submit the application and directed the agency to reconsider the application (See BioCentury Extra, Monday, March 22, 2010). ...