Robert W. Trenchard

Robert W. Trenchard — Patent Litigation Practice Summary

Robert W. Trenchard is a litigation partner in Gibson Dunn & Crutcher's New York office and a member of the firm's Intellectual Property, Antitrust and Competition, and Trials practice groups. His patent practice is concentrated in life-sciences litigation — primarily Hatch-Waxman/ANDA disputes and PTAB challenges involving pharmaceuticals, biologics, genetics, mRNA vaccines, polymorph and formulation claims, siRNA, and medical devices (Gibson Dunn bio; Law360). He has no meaningful footprint in Wi-Fi/software/mechanical patent litigation; the tracked docket is almost entirely pharma.

Side and client profile. Of his 14 tracked appearances, 10 are plaintiff-side and 4 defendant-side, but the distinction is largely procedural: his core clientele are innovative pharmaceutical companies acting as patent owners. The plaintiff-side work is Novartis enforcing Gilenya (fingolimod), Reclast/Zometa, and related patents against ANDA filers in district court; the "defendant-side" appearances are largely Novartis defending the same patents in IPR challenges (Apotex, Argentum, Sun, Actavis) or representations like Merck Sharp & Dohme and Moderna. He is not an NPE/PAE-side practitioner.

Notable matters and outcomes. His flagship representation is the Gilenya franchise: he co-led (with Dr. Jane Love) Novartis's successful PTAB defense of the dosing method-of-use patent ('405 patent) and the Delaware district court litigation against roughly two dozen ANDA filers, including a preliminary injunction against launch-at-risk issued from the bench after a one-day hearing. That matter had a mixed appellate arc — Novartis won the 2020 bench trial (Judge Jordan) and initial Federal Circuit affirmance, but the Federal Circuit reversed on written description on rehearing (Novartis v. Accord Healthcare, 38 F.4th 1013 (Fed. Cir. 2022)), and certiorari was denied in 2023. The related Gilenya formulation patent ('283) was invalidated at the PTAB, affirmed by the Federal Circuit in 2017. He also co-led Merck's successful defense and IPR invalidation of Mayne Pharma's Noxafil formulation patent, the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine defense in Delaware, and PTAB interference trials for the Japanese Foundation for Cancer Research (interferon-beta), Alnylam (siRNA), and Hologic (breast biopsy device). Per IAM Patent 1000, he is also involved in the first Hatch-Waxman case involving a radiopharmaceutical (Lutathera).

PTAB/IPR experience. Yes — PTAB work is a substantial, regular part of his practice: inter partes reviews (including Torrent v. Novartis, IPR2014-00784, and Argentum v. Novartis, IPR2017-01550), patent interference trials, and pro hac vice admissions before the Board (Trenchard Decl., PTAB IPR2017-01550).

Bar / education. New York (1995) and New Jersey bars, plus the Third, Seventh, and D.C. Circuits and SDNY; Harvard Law School J.D. (1994), Hamilton College B.A. (1991); SDNY clerkship for Judge Lewis A. Kaplan (1994–95). Available sources indicate his career has been at Gibson Dunn in New York, where he has practiced for roughly 30 years.