High Court refuses Bayer's appeal

The fight over patents covering Bayer's anticoagulant Xarelto has heard the final bell, with the High Court of Australia refusing to hear Bayer's appeal over an invalidity finding made by the Full Court last October.

Last year, in a case brought by Sandoz, the Full Court concluded that two of Bayer's patents covering Xarelto were invalid for lack of an inventive step, and ordered Bayer to pay most of Sandoz's costs.

Bayer appealed to the High Court, an unsurprising move considering Xarelto earned $140.4 million in pre-rebate reimbursements from the R/PBS in the financial year ending June 2024. The pharma argued the Full Court's decision would damage pharmaceutical research and development in Australia.