AstraZeneca's Crestor® Invalidated Teva Patent Despite Inventor's Limited Understanding

On December 1, 2011, the Federal Circuit affirmed a lower court ruling that Finnegan client AstraZeneca PLC did not infringe a Teva patent through its sales of the billion-dollar cholesterol drug Crestor®. The appeals court found that AstraZeneca “appreciated its invention, and thus could claim priority, even though the company acknowledged it was unaware which component of its formulation was responsible for stabilizing the drug.”