Pfizer Gets Coal in Stocking as Court Nixes Precedex Patents (1)

Global health-care giant Fresenius Kabi won a big victory Dec. 18 when a federal court found Hospira Inc.'s patents on the short-term intravenous sedation drug Precedex were invalid.

Claims in Hospira’s U.S. Patent Nos. 9,616,049 and 8,648,106 covering dexmedetomidine premix formulation were obvious in light of prior art, Judge Rebecca R. Pallmeyer of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois said in an opinion dated Dec. 17 but released late on Dec. 18. Obviousness is when an invention would have been apparent to someone experienced in the technology at the time.

The ruling may spell trouble for ...