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Marie Lafleur Montréal Partner/Associée

Marie Lafleur

Partner Fasken
Biologicals, a new class of pharmaceutical products, are booming in Canada.
Jurisdiction Québec, 1983
Language(s) French, English
Office(s) Montréal
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Overview

Marie Lafleur is a seasoned intellectual property litigator. She regularly appears before the courts in proceedings under the Patented Medicines (Notice of Compliance) Regulations and litigation concerning pharmaceutical patent infringement or invalidity.  Her extensive experience  encompasses biologicals and biosimilars.

Marie has represented numerous companies in proceedings to prevent the Minister of Health from issuing Notices of Compliance that would allow generic versions of patented drugs to be sold, including citalopram, escitalopram, doxylamine/pyridoxine, cyclosporin, omeprazole, diltiazem, divalproex and terazosin.  

She has also successfully filed numerous applications to add or remove patents from the Health Canada register.  She was involved in many applications for judicial review of various decisions by provincial and federal health ministers.

Marie’s expertise covers every extraordinary remedy, particularly seizures before judgment and injunctions, and she fully masters the range of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms available.

Achievements

  • Recognized in Intellectual Property Law in Montreal, The Best Lawyers in Canada 2018 to 2026
  • ecognized by IAM Patent 1000 in Litigation , IAM Patent 1000 2025
  • Recognized in Life Sciences Law by Lexology, Lexology Index 2024 to 2025
  • Recognized in IP STARS as a Trade mark star and as a Patent star in Canada, IP Stars 2018 to 2025
  • Recognized as Recommended in Life Sciences, Who's Who Legal Canada 2023
  • Recognized as Recommended in Life Sciences, Who's Who Legal 2022
  • Recognized by IAM Patent 1000 – The World’s Leading Patent Professionals, IAM Patent 1000 2019 to 2021
  • Who's Who Legal: Canada in the area of Patents (2014-2018), Who's Who Legal Canada 2014 to 2018
  • Recognized by IAM Patent 1000 – The World’s Leading Patent Practitioners for Patent Litigation, IAM Patent 1000 2012 to 2018
  • Recognized by IAM Patent 1000 : Handling crucial proceedings for Duchesnay and LEO Pharma, Julie Desrosiers and Marie Lafleur “are really phenomenal, have a great work ethic and are creative in their approaches.” “Desrosiers has a deep understanding of our technology, which enables her to mount the best defences. Lafleur has spent many years serving the drug industry and knows it inside out.” (2015) , IAM Patent 1000 2015
2019 to 2021 IAM Patent 1000 Recognized by IAM Patent 1000 – The World’s Leading Patent Professionals
2014 to 2018 Who's Who Legal Canada Who's Who Legal: Canada in the area of Patents (2014-2018)
2012 to 2018 IAM Patent 1000 Recognized by IAM Patent 1000 – The World’s Leading Patent Practitioners for Patent Litigation

Experience

  • Constitutional challenge in the Superior Court of Québec attacking controversial amendments to the Patented Medicines Regulations and the validity of the existing PMPRB regime under the Patent Act, [Case - Merck Canada Inc., Janssen Inc., Servier Canada Inc., Boehringer Ingelheim Canada Ltd/Ltée, Bayer Canada Inc., Theratechnologies Inc., and an additional (Confidential) pharmaceutical company], Constitutional challenge in the Superior Court of Québec.
  • Apotex Inc. v. H. Lundbeck A/S, [Case - Lundbeck], Action instituted by Apotex seeking a declaration of invalidity of Canadian patent no. 1,339,452 covering escitalopram on the grounds of anticipation, obviousness, inutility and insufficient disclosure. During this case : Lundbkeck answered with a counterclaim in infringement of the patent;...
  • Lundbeck Canada Inc. v. Cobalt Pharmaceuticals Inc. (now Actavis), [Case - Lundbeck], Proceedings to prohibit the Minister of Health from issuing a notice of compliance which would allow the sale, by Cobalt, of a generic version of escitalopram, a drug used in the treatment of depression, until the expiry of Canadian patent no 1,339,452. The patent at issue covers escitalopram its...
  • Apotex v. Lundbeck Canada, [Case - Lundbeck], This is one of the first cases in which a manufacturer of generic drugs claimed damages for having been prevented from accessing the market. This case was settled after more than three weeks at trial. The settlement remains confidential. Several lawyers from the firm worked on this file. Mr. ...
  • Lundbeck Canada wins patent case before the Federal Court of Appeal, [Case - Lundbeck], On November 25, 2010, in a major victory for Lundbeck Canada Inc., the Federal Court of Appeal, issued a judgment that dismissed appeals by the Canadian arms of multinational generic drug makers Genpharm ULC, Apotex Inc. and Cobalt Pharmaceuticals Inc. of a Federal Court of Canada judgment prohib...
  • Lundbeck Canada Inc. v. Novopharm Limited and the Minister of Health/Ratiopharm Inc. and the Minister of Health/Pharmascience Inc. and the Minister of Health/Sandoz Canada Inc. and the Minister of Health- escitalopram NOC proceedings, [Case - Lundbeck], Proceedings to prohibit the Minister of Health from issuing a notice of compliance which would allow the sale of generic versions of escitalopram, a drug used in the treatment of depression, until the expiry of Canadian patent no 1,339,452. The cases were stayed pending the resolution of the Genp...
  • Lundbeck Canada wins landmark patent case before the Federal Court of Canada, [Case - Lundbeck], On February 25, 2009, in a major victory for Lundbeck Canada Inc., Judge Sean Harrington of the Federal Court of Canada issued the Public Version of Reasons for Orders in which the court prohibited the federal Minister of Health from authorizing Genpharm ULC, Apotex Inc. and Cobalt Pharmaceutical...
  • Biovail Corporation and Laboratoires des Produits Éthiques Éthypharm v. RhoxalPharma Inc. and the Minister of Health, [Case - RhoxalPharma Inc.], Proceedings to prohibit the Minister of Health from issuing a notice of compliance which would allow the sale, by RhoxalPharma, of a generic version of diltiazem, a drug used for the treatment of arterial hypertension, until the expiry of Canadian patent no 2,242,224. The patent at issue covered ...
  • Novartis AG and Novartis Pharmaceuticals Canada Inc. v. RhoxalPharma Inc. and the Minister of Health, [Case - RoxalPharma], Proceedings to prohibit the Minister of Health from issuing a notice of compliance which would allow the sale, by RhoxalPharma, of a generic version of cyclosporine, a drug used to prevent transplant rejection. The patent at issue covered a pharmaceutical formulation containing cyclosporine in th...

Career & Education

Education

  • MBA Concordia University
  • BCL McGill University
  • LLB McGill University
  • DESS, Various courses, Drug Development, Faculty of Pharmacy University of Montreal

Memberships & Affiliations

  • Member, Québec Bar
  • Member, Bar of Montréal
  • Member, Canadian Bar Association
  • Fellow Member, Intellectual Property Institute of Canada

Knowledge

Events

News

  • Thirteen Fasken lawyers recognized as IP Stars by Managing Intellectual Property, 8/4/2021
  • Fourteen Fasken lawyers recognized as IP Stars by Managing Intellectual Property, 6/22/2020
  • IAM Patent 1000 highlights Fasken Lawyers and Agents, 6/19/2020
  • Fasken Lawyers and Agents Recognized in IAM Patent 1000 and IAM Strategy 300, 6/28/2019
  • Fasken’s Julie Desrosiers recognized in the 2019 edition of IP Stars Top 250 Women in IP, 6/6/2019
  • Fasken Wins Labour and Employment Law Firm of the Year in the 2019 Best Lawyers in Canada Guide, 8/21/2018
  • IAM Patent 1000 and IAM Strategy 300 highlights Fasken Lawyers and Agents, 6/15/2018
  • Fasken Martineau Wins Mining Law Firm of the Year in the 2018 edition of Best Lawyers in Canada Guide, 8/22/2017
  • IAM Patent 1000 2017 and IAM Strategy 300 Guides Name 9 Fasken Martineau Partners, 6/21/2017
  • Who’s Who Legal: Canada 2016: 68 Fasken Martineau lawyers ranked, 11/4/2016

Publications

  • Strategic Use of Trade-Marks in the Pharma World, 10/10/2010
  • Intellectual Property Year in Review 2006, 1/1/2007
  • Trade-marks in the Canadian pharmaceutical industry, 4/18/2005
  • Mise en application des droits en matière de propriété intellectuelle, 2/2/2003

Speaking Engagements

  • Data Protection, 9/9/2013
  • Fasken Training Day Program, 12/12/2011
  • Best Practices in NOC proceedings, 10/10/2009
  • Patent Litigation, 3/3/2007
  • Patents: Ten pitfalls to avoid, 11/28/2006
  • Clearly Understanding the Implications of the Supreme Court of Canada's Biolyse Decision, 10/10/2006
  • Recent Developments in Canada and the United States in the intellectual property in the pharmaceutical industry, 6/6/2004
  • Appeal and review tribunals: the Registrar of Trade-marks and the Commission of copyright, 11/11/2003
  • Implementation of Intellectual Property Rights Matter, 2/2/2003
  • The Patentability of Genetically Altered Non-Human Mammals, 2/2/2000
Data Protection Fasken in-house seminar for clients location location Montréal
Fasken Training Day Program
Best Practices in NOC proceedings National Judicial Institute location location Ottawa