UPC Hague Grants Probiotic Patent Injunction and Orders Defendants to Publish It Online

By Haedar

Photo: Christina & Peter / Pexels

The Local Division of the Unified Patent Court (UPC) in The Hague has granted a preliminary injunction in a dispute over probiotic supplements for insulin resistance. The order, dated 8 October 2026, corrected on 20 October under Rule 353 of the Rules of Procedure and published on 28 October, stands out for two reasons: it treats links to retailers as an "offer" of the product, and it requires the defendants to publish the injunction on their own websites.

The parties and the patent

The claimant is Caelus Lifesciences, owner of European Patent EP 2 753 187 B2. The patent concerns the use of the gut bacteria Anaerobutyricum hallii (formerly Eubacterium hallii) and related strains to treat insulin resistance and related metabolic conditions.

There are five defendants, including the US manufacturer Pendulum Therapeutics and the Dutch online retailer iHerb Netherlands. The products in question are the probiotic supplements sold as "Glucose Control" and "Metabolic Daily".

What the court ordered

The court found it more likely than not that the patent is valid and infringed, and granted a preliminary injunction covering Belgium, Denmark, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands and Sweden. The injunction also extends to Switzerland, which is not a UPC member state, because iHerb Netherlands, which is domiciled in the Netherlands, serves as anchor defendant and the court saw a risk of conflicting judgments if the claims were heard separately. The order was made by a single judge, and the court refused the defendants' request that the claimant provide security before enforcing it.

Two points in the order are worth noting for anyone selling health products online in Europe.

Linking counts as offering. The court held that a website that directs customers to retailers through links can amount to offering the product within the meaning of the UPC Agreement. In the court's words: "By directly linking interested parties to a website where they can place an order, Pendulum is offering the attacked products within the UPCA territory as well as Switzerland."

Publication of the order. Relying on Article 80 of the UPC Agreement, the court ordered the defendants to publish the injunction for four weeks on the homepages of their websites: pendulumlife.com and the country domains of iherb.com. In our view, a publication order at the provisional stage is worth noting.

Why it matters

The order is a reminder that the UPC is willing to act quickly in life sciences cases outside pharmaceuticals, including food supplements with a medical claim. It also shows the court's readiness to reach beyond UPC territory, as in Switzerland here, when the defendants are properly before it.

For supplement brands, the lesson is that "we only link to resellers" is not a reliable defence. A product page that steers European buyers to a shop can be enough.

What happens next

A preliminary injunction is not a final ruling. The defendants can appeal to the UPC Court of Appeal in Luxembourg, and the claimant must start proceedings on the merits within the deadline set by the rules if it has not already done so.

We could not open the UPC PDFs directly; for the details of the order we relied on the upc.law summary.

Sources

• UPC order (PDF), Local Division The Hague, Caelus Lifesciences v Pendulum Therapeutics and iHerb Netherlands
• UPC corrective order under R.353 RoP, 20 Oct 2026 (PDF)
• Unified Patent Court: publication page
• upc.law: LD The Hague, 8 October 2026 order, UPC_CFI_1615/2026 (summary)
• youpc.org: case entry 184584