T 0966/18 - Suitable, plausible, credible

 Key points

• A pharma case about plausibility, earlier reported by IPKat
• “At the heart of the present case lies the question whether or not the skilled person, having regard to the disclosure of the patent and the common general knowledge at the relevant date of the application, would have considered that the compounds referred to in the claim were suitable to achieve the therapeutical effect (see decision T 609/02, point 9). Or, in other words, whether it was plausible (or, in yet other words, whether it was credible) that the therapeutic effect could be achieved by the claimed composition.” emphasis added
• “ In conclusion, the data in the patent support the hypothesis developed in the patent that active and passive immunisation targeting alpha-synuclein can reduce synuclein inclusion bodies in the brain. Together with the comprehensive body of knowledge in the prior art (see points 13. to 29. above), the medical use of claim 1 is thus plausible.”
• “The board concludes that the use of compositions comprising alpha-synuclein or an immunogenic fragment of it, or an antibody to alpha-synuclein or to an immunogenic fragment of it, for therapy of Lewy body diseases is also supported by later published evidence in which such therapies were and still are developed.”

T 0966/18
https://www.epo.org/law-practice/case-law-appeals/recent/t180966eu1.html

decision text omitted