Effective February 11, 2019, Advertising Standards Canada (Ad Standards Canada) will implement a new Advertising Dispute Procedure (the Procedure) to govern complaints between competitors for  alleged breaches of the Canadian Code of Advertising Standards (the Code). The new Procedure (formerly known as the Trade Disputes Procedure) is designed to further streamline the resolution process for advertising complaints between competitors. Key elements of the Procedure include:  New pre-conditions for accepting a complaint. Ad Standards Canada will…

On January 7, 2019, Health Canada opened a consultation on whether to include the names of sponsor companies on the generic submissions under review list (GSUR) for Abbreviated New Drug Submissions (ANDSs). This type of information was recently added to the list of drug and health product submissions under review (SUR) that Health Canada has maintained since 2015. Historically, the SUR list has been restricted to New Drug Submissions (NDSs) and Supplemental New Drugs Submissions…

Last year ushered in a number of changes to the Canadian pharmaceutical and life sciences sector. 2018 also served as a year to explore the impacts of major intellectual property decisions and regulatory changes from 2017 including the impact of the Supreme Court’s decision in NEXIUM striking down the Promise Doctrine and the implementation of CETA on single-track patent litigation under the newly amended Patented Medicines (Notice of Compliance) Regulations. Further, a number of IP…

The Federal Court of Appeal (“FCA”) confirmed that in assessing the availability of a non-infringing alternative (“NIA”) defence, the NIA must be legal and cannot infringe any patent, and its economic viability must be considered objectively. The FCA upheld an award for damages for patent infringement by the Federal Court (“FC”) but remitted the issue of prejudgment interest back for redetermination. Background This case arises from a dispute between Apotex Inc. (“Apotex”) and Eli Lilly…

Canada’s core IP statutes have been amended by Bill C-86, which received Royal Assent as the Budget Implementation Act, 2018, No. 2, SC 2018, c 27 on December 14, 2018. The final version of the legislation includes amendments to the Patent Act that are substantially identical to the version that received first reading 46 days ago, on October 29, 2018. The patent-law changes in Bill C-86 are not specifically directed at pharmaceutical patentees, but have…

The Federal Court has ordered that the trial of two actions brought under the post-CETA Patented Medicines (Notice of Compliance) Regulations (the Regulations), against two separate generics, be heard concurrently, on issues of invalidity. This decision highlights the Federal Court’s push to streamline section 6 actions. The court rejected the defendant Taro’s arguments that the common hearing of issues reduces the likelihood that Taro will benefit from any “first to market” advantage. Background Taro and…

This decision of the Ontario Court of Appeal (ONCA) arises in the context of a novel action brought by Apotex seeking damages for the delayed market entry of its generic version of Sanofi’s blockbuster ramipril drug. Apotex’s claims in this action are linked to the invalidity of Canadian Patent No. 1,341,206 (206 Patent). The 206 Patent had previously been invalidated  based on the application of the “promise doctrine”. In June 2017, the Supreme Court of…