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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

Client Work

  • 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
  • LLB McGill University
  • BCL McGill University
  • DESS, Various courses, Drug Development, Faculty of Pharmacy Université de Montréal

Memberships & Affiliations

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

Knowledge

  • The New Patented Medicines (Notice of Compliance) Regulations and Certificate of Supplementary Protection Regulations, 9/26/2017
  • Health Canada Revises its Guidance for the Approval of Biosimilars, 12/16/2016
  • Biologics: Definition, Legislation and Litigation, 4/6/2016

Events

News

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

Speaking Engagements

  • Data Protection, 9/9/2013
  • Fasken Training Day Program, 12/12/2011
  • Best Practices in NOC proceedings, 10/10/2009
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

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