The IPKat

The IPKat has received and is pleased to host this guest contribution from Katfriend Jenna Park : Dose of reality: The Supreme Court of Canada reconciles the ban on patenting medical treatment with patents on dosing regimens by Jenna Park A dosing regimen tells a physician how much of a drug should be administered and when. Canadian law has historically treated methods of medical treatment (“MMTs”) as unpatentable, yet patents claiming dosing regimens may be listed on the patent register and enforced against generic manufacturers. In Pharmascience Inc. v. Janssen Inc., 2026 SCC 26 , a majority of seven justices reconciles this tension: the MMT exclusion survived the 1993 repeal of former s.41(1) of the Patent Act but reaches only claims that seek to monopolize professional medical skill and judgment. Two justices would have abolished the exclusion entirely. All nine upheld Janssen’s patent. Background Janssen’s patent claims dosing regimens for a long-acting paliperidone palmitate inje...