More questions for the CJEU from the High Court

In two separate decisions handed down last Friday, Teva UK Limited & Ors v Gilead Sciences Inc [2017] EWHC 13 (Pat) and Abraxis Bioscience LLC v The Comptroller-General of Patents [2017] EWHC 14 (Pat), Mr Justice Arnold has decided to send more questions to the CJEU for a preliminary ruling.

In Teva UK Limited & Ors v Gilead Sciences Inc, at [95], Mr Justice Arnold repeats question 1 of the Actavis v Sanofi case:

"What are the criteria for deciding whether 'the product is protected by a basic patent in force' in Article 3(a) of the SPC Regulation?"

In Abraxis Bioscience LLC v The Comptroller-General of Patents, the question is (at [62]):

"Is Article 3(d) of the SPC Regulation to be interpreted as permitting the grant of an SPC where the marketing authorisation referred to in Article 3(b) is the first authorisation within the scope of the basic patent to place the product on the market as a medicinal product and where the product is a new formulation of an old active ingredient?"