Jul. 17 at 8:23 PM
$CAPR $CAPR $MESO Mesoblast just hit Capricor with a patent suit over Deramiocel (CAP-1002), asserting three mesenchymal-stem-cell (MSC) patents (conveniently timed ~2 weeks before the 7/29 AdCom and ~5 weeks before the 8/22 PDUFA). I went through the complaint, the asserted patents, Capricor's own '076 patent, and 9 published CDC papers, and the whole case hinges on calling Capricor's cardiosphere-derived cells "MSCs," which the science pushes back on hard: CD90 runs ~7–24% vs. the ≥ 95% needed to qualify as an MSC, the cells are cardiac in origin (not marrow), and Deramiocel's FDA-reviewed potency is anti-fibrotic, not the immunosuppression one of the patents claims. Mesoblast is also caught in a vise; read the claims broadly enough to capture CDCs and they collide with pre-2014 prior art, with the freshly issued '722 patent looking especially IPR-vulnerable.
