NEW YORK, July 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Article One Partners, LLC has discovered new prior art impacting the validity of AstraZeneca's Crestor U.S. drug patent, in closing out another round of Patent Studies. The Article One community uncovered premier validity evidence which can show the Crestor patent to be invalid, as verified by independent outside counsel, Darby & Darby, and an independent expert. CRESTOR(R) (rosuvastatin calcium) is a prescription drug for treating high cholesterol. The discovery of this patent invalidity evidence can impact the industry litigation to market generic rosuvastatin drugs. The prior art (further detailed below) was provided by an Article One community Advisor with the username Columbo, who will receive a monetary award.

JSA Technologies Study Uncovers Two Key References

In addition to the Crestor Study, Article One's JSA Technologies Study for U.S. Patent No. 6,963,857 uncovered a broad range of prior art references, including two references that each separately can show the patent to be invalid under the strongest level of invalidity evidence, called anticipation. The JSA patent involves transferring funds from a second account to a first account with the accounts on separate networks and servers--such as transferring funds onto university student ID cards. Two Advisors, with usernames Ramesh and Patented, identified the evidence and will share the monetary reward.

Article One already has begun to license the proprietary collection, with law firm Davis Wright Tremaine, LLP first to license. The JSA Study uncovered new dramatic invalidating prior art that extensive traditional prior art searches didn't produce. With so many Article One Advisors using different approaches, a wide variety of highest quality references were found--providing two separate paths to invalidity under "102 anticipation," including a U.S. patent, and obscure publications about a product offered in 1997. The patent has been asserted in litigation against Informed Decisions Corp./Cashnet and has been described by JSA as being widely licensed to universities.

Crestor Study & Industry Impact

Nine generic drug manufacturers have submitted Abbreviated New Drug Applications with Para IV certifications (ANDAs) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), seeking approval to market generic versions of Crestor. AstraZeneca countered with litigation for patent infringement against these nine drug companies, with court cases proceeding in the discovery phase, in the District of Delaware.