Rare PTAB rehearing request granted for Finnegan client Incyte

Incyte Corp. brought in Finnegan to handle a request for rehearing after the Patent and Trademark Appeal Board (PTAB) denied institution of Incyte’s inter partes review (IPR) petition against a patent claiming deuterated versions of the active ingredient in Incyte’s FDA approved Jakafi® product (ruxolitinib). The original petition was not drafted by Finnegan. The PTAB agreed with the rehearing request, which claimed that the original decision applied an overly restrictive standard for the lead compound analysis and for the reason to combine the prior art and granted institution. The PTAB rarely grants rehearing requests or institutes trial after an original denial. Finnegan successfully represented Incyte as lead counsel during the trial phase of the IPR, after which the Board in its final written decision (FWD) found all challenged claims of the patent-at-issue to be unpatentable. Finnegan also represented appellee Incyte before the Federal Circuit and secured a unanimous affirmance of the PTAB’s obviousness determination.