On June 19, 2006, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an order declining to review an appeals court decision that invalidated a significant pharmaceutical patent based on a finding that the drug was not “novel” when the patent application was filed in 1986 — even though it is undisputed that if the drug existed before then, it was in such minute quantities as to be undetectable. The order, issued without comment, was a setback for the WLF, which filed a brief urging that review be granted. WLF argued that if allowed to stand, the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit would undermine confidence in the nation’s patent system as an effective means of protecting intellectual property rights. The case involved a patent on crystalline paroxetine hydrochloride hemihydrate (“PHC hemihydrate”), which SmithKline Beecham Corp. has marketed under the name Paxil to treat depression.