Patenting Antibody Pharmaceuticals at the EPO

The European Patent Office (EPO) applies the same basic patentability criteria to antibodies as to other inventions. However, the high volume of applications in this area means that examiners have developed standardised approaches to assessing “antibody-specific” issues and these have been formalised in a dedicated section of the EPO’s Guidelines for Examination. This webinar will explore the general approach taken by the EPO in relation to antibody claims, including what can and cannot be patented, considerations in relation to inventive step, clarity and sufficiency of disclosure. The webinar will also review recent case law from the EPO’s Boards of Appeal relating to antibody inventions.

Topics covered include:

• What can be patented, including for new and known targets
• The framework for assessing inventive step, including the problem and solution approach and the data required to support inventive step
• Claim formats, including defining an antibody structurally or functionally and highlighting recent changes to the EPO’s Guidelines for Examination
• Portfolio building
• Recent decisions from the Technical Boards of Appeal relating to different types of antibody claims
• Conclusions/trends from the case law