Guest Post by Jordan Duenckel. Jordan is a second-year law student at the University of Missouri, head of our IP student association, and a registered patent agent. He has an extensive background in chemistry and food science.
The Federal Circuit weighed in on the amorphous topic of subject matter eligibility in the recent opinion ChromaDex, Inc., V. Elysium Health, Inc., — F.4th —, Docket No. 2022-1116. Writing for a unanimous panel, Judge Prost affirmed a grant of summary judgment that U.S. Patent No. 8,197,807 (“the ’807 patent”) was directed to unpatentable subject matter and therefore ineligible based on 35 U.S.C. § 101.
ChromaDex’s ‘807 patent concerns nicotinamide riboside (“NR”), a form of vitamin B3 found naturally in cow’s milk. When ingested, a human body converts NR into the coenzyme nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, or NAD+. Claim one of ‘807 states:
1. A composition comprising isolated nicotinamide riboside in combination with one or more of tryptophan, nicotinic acid, or nicotinamide,
wherein said combination is in admixture with a carrier comprising a sugar, starch, cellulose, … or polyanhydride,
wherein said composition is formulated for oral administration and increased NAD+ biosynthesis upon oral administration.
ChromaDex isolates and concentrates naturally occurring NR — selling dietary supplements that contain elevated levels of NR. The levels found in these supplements is significantly above natural levels present in milk or any other food. Although the claims require isolated NR, they do not require a specific high-concentration, only enough to “increase[] NAD+ biosynthesis upon oral administration.” In its decision, the Federal Circuit focuses on the breadth of the claim and its ability to include natural milk (a product of nature) as the key ingredient providing the NR.
The Supreme Court has two key product of nature cases from the past 45 years: Diamond v. Chakrabarty, 447 U.S. 303 (1980) and Ass’n for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, Inc., 569 U.S. 576 (2013).
Under these cases, a determination that milk is within the scope of the claims is not, by itself fatal to eligibility. Chakrabarty requires that to be patentable the claimed composition must “ha[ve] markedly different characteristics [from the natural phenomenon] and have the potential for significant utility.” 447 U.S. at 310. The chemical composition of isolated NR is not structurally or functionally different from NR found in milk. ChromaDex’s argument at the district court that the characteristics of isolated NR are purportedly different from naturally occurring NR— stability, bioavailability, sufficient purity, and therapeutic efficacy was rejected because these improvements were not required by the claim language. On appeal, ChromaDex insists in their brief that the claims have “markedly different characteristics” that render them patent eligible, specifically that (1) NR is found in milk in only trace amounts, i.e., one part per million, and (2) what little NR is found in milk is not bioavailable because it is bound to the lactalbumin whey protein. Again though, ChromaDex’s argument is thwarted by the overly broad claim language. The claims do not require either a minimum level of NR or even that the isolated NR is more bioavailable by separation from the lactalbumin.
The corollary to Chakrabarty is Ass’n for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, Inc., 569 U.S. 576 (2013) and is more similar to the subject matter of ChromaDex. In Myriad, the isolation of specific DNA fragments was found to be patent ineligible. ChromaDex faces the same problem. The act of isolating the NR compared to how NR naturally exists in milk is not sufficient, on its own, to confer patent eligibility.
Federal Circuit held that this Chakrabarty analysis was dispositive on the question of § 101 eligibility and affirmed the grant of summary judgment. One open question is whether the same two-step analysis of Alice/Mayo applies in the product-of-nature eligibility arena. Without fully deciding that question, the Federal Circuit conducted a subsequent analysis under the Alice/Mayo two-step test and reached the same conclusion — that the claims are ineligible. As noted by this court, the Alice/Mayo test is functionally the same as the Chakrabarty analysis, especially when a composition of matter is at issue.
It appears to me that the primary issue is a patent drafting problem. The ‘807 patent was filed on April 20th, 2006, long before the clarifying guidance from Myriad (2013), Alice (2014), and Mayo (2012). At the time of filing, the isolation and reformulation was not subject to the explicit subject matter restriction in Myriad. However, the patent drafter should have been aware of Chakrabarty (1980). Claim one was written so broadly that potential embodiments include far more than dietary supplement pills.
The Federal Circuit distinguished the current case from Nat. Alts. Int’l, Inc. v. Creative Compounds, LLC, 918 F.3d 1338 (Fed. Cir. 2019). In Natural Alternatives, “natural products ha[d] been isolated and then incorporated into a dosage form”—“between about 0.4 grams to 16 grams”—“with particular characteristics to effectively increase athletic performance.” Id. at 1348–49. The patentee may have also avoided an eligibility problem by providing evidence in the specification that the NR concentration in milk was insufficient to increase NAD+ biosynthesis as claimed, but that higher levels of concentration did provide that benefit. To be most clear, the claims could have also added a limitation that the NR is provided in an “effective amount” to achieve the claimed NAD+ synthesis.