- Mar 26

Amgen v. Sanofi - Biotech Enablement - Sup Ct. Oral Args Tomorrow

March 26, 2023

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments tomorrow in Amgen v. Sanofi, an important biotech enablement case. The case is especially important for a large class of therapeutics called biologics. Many of our most valuable recent therapeutics are a type of biologic called an antibody (e.g. Keytruda and Humira). The claims at issue are directed to antibodies having specific functional properties that relate to lowering bad cholesterol. The case is important to patent law even outside of biotechnology because of its relevance to enablement of genus claims and composition claims having functional language.

Question to which Sup Ct granted cert:

Whether enablement is governed by the statutory

requirement that the specification teach those skilled in

the art to “make and use” the claimed invention, 35

U.S.C. § 112, or whether it must instead enable those

skilled in the art “to reach the full scope of claimed embodiments”

without undue experimentation—i.e., to cumulatively

identify and make all or nearly all embodiments

of the invention without substantial “ ‘time and effort,’ ”

Pet. App. 14a (emphasis added).

Catch the oral arguments live at 10AM Eastern here:

https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/live.aspx