The first pharmaceutical company to come under fire from a well-known Dallas-based hedge fund formally asked the Patent Trial and Appeal Board on Wednesday not to play ball with what it describes as a cynical stock-price manipulation scheme.
Acorda Therapeutics Inc. asked the PTAB to reject a petition for inter partes review filed in March by Kyle Bass’ Hayman Capital Management L.P. and its Coalition for Affordable Drugs. “There can be no dispute that allowing hedge funds to use the IPR process to manipulate financial markets is inconsistent with congressional intent and the directives given to the office,” Paul Hastings partner Gerald Flattmann wrote in Acorda’s opposition. “Instituting inter partes review here will only encourage more such filings.”
