UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM
CURRENT REPORT
PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(D)
OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
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| Item 8.01 | Other Events. |
On August 24, 2021, the Court of Appeal of England and Wales issued an opinion (1) upholding the portion of the April 20, 2020 decision of the Patents Court of England and Wales (the “2020 UK Patents Court Decision”) which held that the claims at issue in each of FibroGen Inc.’s (“FibroGen’s”) hypoxia-inducible factor (“HIF”)-related European Patent Nos. 1633333 (UK), 2322153 (UK) and 2322155 (UK) were obvious and invalid and (2) overturning the portion of the 2020 UK Patents Court Decision which invalidated the claims at issue in FibroGen’s HIF-related European Patent No. 1463823 (UK). The Court of Appeal’s judgment does not specifically address the validity of European Patent No. 2298301 (UK) which had been held invalid in the 2020 UK Patents Court Decision. FibroGen’s HIF-related European Patent No. 2289531 (UK) was found valid, but not infringed by vadadustat in the 2020 UK Patents Court Decision and this finding was not reviewed by the Court of Appeal. Each of FibroGen’s HIF-related European Patents Nos. 1463823 (UK), 2298301 (UK) and 2289531 (UK) expires on December 6, 2022.
SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized.
| AKEBIA THERAPEUTICS, INC. | ||||||
| Date: August 24, 2021 |
By: | /s/ John P. Butler | ||||
| Name: John P. Butler Title: President and Chief Executive Officer | ||||||