“Finasteride”

• 1. A decision cancelling a patent does not have absolute effect within the meaning of Art. L. 613-27 of the Intellectual Property Code until it has acquired the force of res judicata.

• 2. Where a claim concerns a subsequent therapeutic application of a substance or a composition, obtaining this therapeutic effect is a functional technical characteristic of the claim, such that, although the requirement of sufficiency of disclosure does not require this therapeutic effect to be shown clinically, the patent claim must in any event directly and without ambiguity reflect the therapeutic application claimed, so that the person skilled in the art understands, on the basis of generally accepted models, that the results reflect this therapeutic application.