Coherus Biosciences, Inc. (“Coherus”) has filed four petitions with the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“PTAB”) for inter partes review (“IPR”) of U.S. Patent No. 9,085,619 (“the ’619 patent”) related to AbbVie’s Humira® (adalimumab).  The challenged claims of the ’619 patent are directed to formulations of adalimumab and closely-related antibodies.  Adalimumab is a TNF (tumor necrosis factor) inhibitor that binds to TNF-alpha (TNF-α) preventing it from activating TNF receptors, which cause the inflammatory reactions associated with autoimmune diseases. Humira® is indicated for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, juvenile idiopathic arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, Crohn’s disease, psoriasis and ulcerative colitis.

The proceedings are IPR2017-00822; IPR2017-00823; IPR 2017-00826; and IPR2017-00827. The only real party-in-interest identified for Petitioner is Coherus BioSciences Inc.  The real parties-in-interest identified for the Patent Owner are AbbVie Biotechnology Ltd. and AbbVie Inc.

In addition to the four petitions filed by Coherus for the ’619 patent, several other IPRs have been instituted by the PTAB on other patents related to Humira®.  A complete list of IPRs can be found in RFEM’s IPR Dashboard.

We will continue to provide updates as these cases progress.