Centocor’s ustekinumab infringes Abbott’s human IL-2 antibody patents – US District Judge

On March 9, 2012, the District Court of Massachusetts found, within a series of competing  summary judgement motions, that Centocor’s ustekinumab (STELARA) infringes claim of two of Abbott’s human anti IL-2 patents.   Based on an earlier construction of “human antibody” to mean “an antibody that is derived from human DNA and not form the DNA of any non-human species”, Saylor J. concluded that ustekinumab was a human antibody.  More specifically, any N-nucleotide additions within a mouse B cell during the development of ustekinumab “does not constitute the introduction of DNA of [a] non human species”.

Centocor’s additional summary judgment motions of estoppel, lack of written description and anticipation were denied.