Johnson & Johnson loses appeal to revive Zytiga patent

By Brendan Pierson

(Reuters) – A federal appeals court has ruled that a patent related to Johnson & Johnson’s blockbuster prostate cancer drug Zytiga was invalid, upholding court and agency rulings allowing generic versions of the drug.

A unanimous panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Tuesday found that the patent, which covers a method of administering Zytiga along with the steroid drug prednisone to treat cancer, is obvious in light of prior art.