Apotex Pty Ltd v Sanofi Aventis Australia Pty Ltd [2013] HCA 50

Today (4 December 2013), in a decision which has far reaching implications for medical technology, the High Court has determined that methods of medical treatment of the human body are patentable inventions within the meaning of s 18(1) of the Patents Act 1990 (Cth) in the decision of Apotex Pty Ltd v Sanofi Aventis Australia Pty Ltd [2013] HCA 50.

Sanofi-Aventis Deutschland GmbH, the second respondent, was the registered owner of a patent which claimed a method of preventing or treating psoriasis by the administration of the compound leflunomide.  Apotex Pty Ltd, the appellant, intended to supply leflunomide in Australia, under the trade name "Apo-Leflunomide", for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and psoriatic arthritis.  Almost every person with psoriatic arthritis has or will develop psoriasis.

After the primary judge found that the patent was valid, the Full Court of the Federal Court dismissed the appellant's appeal concerning the validity of the patent.

The High Court, by majority, held that the patent claimed a "manner of manufacture" within the meaning of s 18(1) of the Patents Act and thus a patentable invention.  

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