Opinion ID: 866346
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Asserted Claims

Text: Allergan holds four patents related to Combigan®: the ’463 patent, the ’149 patent, the ’258 patent, and the ’976 patent. The asserted claims are directed to a composition of 0.2% brimonidine and 0.5% timolol, expressed in different ways, some claims are directed to a fixed combination of brimonidine and timolol, others are directed to a method of treating glaucoma or ocular hypertension by administering the composition twice daily, and others are directed to an article of manufacture comprising packaging material indicating that twice daily administration of the composition is useful for treating glaucoma or ocular hypertension. Claim 1 of the ’463 patent is exemplary and provides:
weight and about 0.5% brimonidine by weight as the sole active agents, in a single composition. The other claims of the ’463 patent include additional limitations directed to the amount of BAK in the composition and to packaging material that indicates that the ALLERGAN v. SANDOZ 5 composition is useful for treating glaucoma or ocular hypertension by twice a day topical administration of the composition to a person’s eye. In their briefs, the parties generally treat the claims as a group and, with the exception of claim 4 of the ’149 patent, do not argue them individually. As such, with the exception of claim 4, we treat the claims collectively. Claim 4 of the ’149 patent is directed to reducing the daily number of doses of brimonidine without loss of efficacy by administering brimonidine in a fixed combination with timolol. Claim 4 reads as follows: 4. A method of reducing the number of daily topi- cal ophthalmic doses of brimondine administered topically to an eye of a person in need thereof for the treatment of glaucoma or ocular hypertension from 3 to 2 times a day without loss of efficacy, wherein the concentration of brimonidine is 0.2% by weight, said method comprising administering said 0.2% brimonidine by weight and 0.5% timolol by weight in a single composition.