With Pfiz­er in hot pur­suit, J&J los­es a crit­i­cal patent fight as it scram­bles for a new prostate can­cer drug OK

J&J’s block­buster prostate can­cer drug Zyti­ga has just been pushed per­ilous­ly close to the edge of the patent cliff. And with its fran­chise tee­ter­ing on the brink, the phar­ma gi­ant is left scram­bling for an OK of a suc­ces­sor ther­a­py that may soon find it­self go­ing head-to-head with Pfiz­er’s Xtan­di.

The US Patent Tri­al and Ap­peal Board ruled that a patent cov­er­ing the ad­min­is­tra­tion of Zyti­ga was im­prop­er­ly al­lowed as the ap­proach was ob­vi­ous, Reuters re­port­ed Wednes­day night. The com­pa­ny im­me­di­ate­ly put out a state­ment that it was re­view­ing its op­tions for a re­hear­ing on the in­ter partes re­views de­ci­sion, or a shift to a fed­er­al ap­peals court.

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