RE:RE:RE:RE:RE:RE:News AlertOne further thought: It seems to me that we have also learned here not only that Pfizer is quite familiar with the compounds owned by RVX and Zenith - but that they also have been testing them. How else could they have discovered a new purpose for these compounds? The subject patent is for a new use for these compounds, among other compounds. (If someone else had discovered that use, then they would have patented that use.)
If Pfizer is testing the compounds for one obscure disease, I would strongly suspect that they are testing said compounds for other indications. Why would they limited it just to that particular orphan indication in which revenue potential is also limited? It would not make sense for them to do that.
My personal guess is that they know much more that just this about these drugs and class of drugs.
Patenting one particular (obscure) use, would be useful to them in negotiating with any of the owners of the listed compounds (RVX, Zenith and others). It would be a way to limit the amount they would pay, by themselves taking ownership of some of the capabilties of the overall compound. They would be basically saying: "We have these pieces wrapped up and don't need to pay for these pieces....we will only pay for the other items you have already patented." (Of course, I think that they would still need to provide a royalty to RVX for other aspects of the investion, perhaps due to the fact that RVX has a composition of matter patent on RVX-208 and perhaps other compounds...)
If this is the best they can do in terms of locking up some IP in this area (an obscure orphan indication), then I would think that - perhaps - the vast majority of the real estate is otherwise locked up in Don's "vast patent estate" as he once called it.
So this type of action could be a prelude to other actions by Pfizer in the epigenetics area.
SF