Read our latest updates & insights

Recent reforms to streamline New Zealand’s medicines approval process may have inadvertently undermined its compliance with an international trade agreement, the CPTPP. From July 2026, New Zealand has implemented a new, fast-track pathway for the approval of pharmaceuticals under sections 22A to 22F of the Medicines Act 1981.

Choosing a new brand can be an exciting part of launching a product, service or business. Once the preferred name has gained internal support, however, commercial momentum can build quickly: domains are secured, packaging is commissioned, regulatory documentation is prepared and marketing plans begin to take shape.

Justice Rofe of the Federal Court of Australia has delivered another decision in the long-running dispute between Kutti Bay Investments Pty Ltd (formerly Jusand Nominees Pty Ltd) and Rattlejack Innovations Pty Ltd. Justice Rofe held that Kutti Bay’s application to amend three standard patents constituted an abuse of process, as it sought to overcome earlier Court decisions in the dispute.

Australia. Preliminary Discovery. A New Frontier. Generics Are Now Using Preliminary Discovery in AU to Determine Whether to Mount Validity Challenges. Preliminary discovery applications are becoming increasingly common in the context of patent disputes in Australia.

The Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia (Justices Beach, Jackson and Jackman) has issued a further, and what appears to be the final, decision in the long-running litigation between Nalco Company (Nalco) and Cytec Industries Inc (Cytec). 

In a significant PBS pricing decision, Justice Downes held that the PBS listing of Alphapharm’s generic Descovy® would also trigger statutory price reductions for several of Gilead’s related combination therapies, including Odefsey®, Biktarvy® and Genvoya®, under s 99ACC of the National Health Act.

Justice Stellios, sitting as duty judge in the Federal Court of Australia, has granted a mandatory interlocutory injunction requiring RedTail Technology Pty Ltd and its founder and sole director, secretary and shareholder (Richard Pahlavani).

The Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia has delivered its decision in NOCO’s appeal from the primary judge’s decision in The NOCO Company v Brown and Watson International Pty Ltd [2025] FCA 887. The Full Court has dismissed NOCO’s appeal, rejecting NOCO’s challenges on lack of inventive step and the correct priority date for assessing novelty.

Shanghai Lytone Biochemicals has failed in its opposition to the grant of Fresh Inset S.A.’s patent application for compositions and articles comprising complexes of 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) and alpha-cyclodextrin (α-CD), which are used to prolong the shelf life of plant products by inhibiting the effects of ethylene.