Pulmonary Edema Treatment Patents Invalid Under 35 U.S.C. § 101​

Following a bench trial, the court determined that the asserted claims of plaintiffs’ pulmonary edema treatment patents encompassed unpatentable subject matter and found that the claims were directed toward a natural phenomena. "[T]he core of the alleged invention is the increased risk of pulmonary-capillary wedge pressure that develops when administering [inhaled nitric oxide] to term or near-term patients with both hypoxic respiratory failure and left-ventricular dysfunction. That 'invention' is really a patient populations' natural physiological response to 20 ppm of inhaled nitric oxide treatment. While man discovered the adverse physiological response that occurs when some patients receive iNO, such a discovery does not amount to innovation."

INO Therapeutics LLC et al v. Praxair Distribution, Inc. et al, 1-15-cv-00170 (DED September 5, 2017, Order) (Sleet, USDJ)