I think the patent office will want more data to see that it works for the specific uses, so I don't think the overall patent will be approved as is. Ultimately, I think they will have to break it down as they get clinical trial data that proves it works for a specific disease condition. So, for example, once the clinical trial data comes out on thyroiditis, I think they could get approval on that, but I'm not sure what the process would be or how long it would take.
However, keep in mind, they have a product on the market that works and that people will buy once the news is out. It will be the hot topic of conversation on every medical talk show. If a copy cat manufacturer tries to sell anatabine they would have a variety of hurdles to jump including lawsuits from Star. IMHO, any copycat manufacturer would get killed in court and face treble damage for willful infringement.
JMHO,
NJ
