By Suresh Pillai --
Oxford Gene Technology Settles Legal Action with Bioarray Solutions
On January 21, 2009, Oxford, UK-based Oxford Gene Technology (OGT) announced a settlement of the patent infringement lawsuit OGT filed against BioArray Solutions, Ltd., a subsidiary of Immucor, a U.S. corporation based in Norcross, Georgia (see "Court Report," June 1, 2008). OGT filed the lawsuit in May 2008 for the alleged infringement of U.S. Patent Nos. 6,307,039; 6,770,751; and 7,192,707. These patents covered the use of microarrays for the detection of DNA sequence variations such as single nucleotide polymorphisms or variable-length tandem repeat regions. Because of the settlement, BioArray now has a license for the patents that had been in dispute; this license extends through the patents' lifetimes.
Warner Chilcott and Watson Pharmaceuticals Resolve Patent Litigation Related to Loestrin® 24 and Femcon® Fe
On January 12, 2009, Rockaway, NJ-based Warner Chilcott announced that it had entered into licensing agreements with Watson Pharmaceuticals to cover Watson's use of two Warner Chilcott oral contraceptives, Loestrin® 24 and Femcon® Fe. These agreements are part of a resolution of pending patent litigation involving the alleged infringement of Warner Chilcott's patents by Watson Pharmaceuticals (see "Court Report," October 7, 2007). The agreement provides Watson Pharmaceuticals with a non-exclusive license that permits Watson to market generic equivalents of the disputed products. This also allows Watson to enter the market with a generic version of Femcon® Fe before Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries introduces its own generic version.
A separate agreement, also part of the settlement, provides for Watson's co-promotion of Warner-Chilcott's drug Femring®. Under the agreement, Watson's direct pharmaceutical sales force will promote Femring® to obstetricians and gynecologists in exchange for both fee-based compensation and a portion of the net sales of Femring® for the duration of the agreement.
In a third licensing and supply agreement, Watson has received an exclusive license to market and sell a new oral contraceptive product, designated WC3026, that is currently under development by Warner Chilcott. In exchange for providing the product exclusively to Watson on a cost plus margin basis, Watson has agreed to pay royalties on the product based on product net sales.
PDL BioPharma and Alexion Pharma Resolve Patent Dispute
Incline Village, NV-based PDL BioPharma and Chesire, CT-based Alexion Pharma have resolved their patent dispute by entering into a definitive licensing and settlement agreement covering all disputed patents and all legal disputes related to Soliris, Alexion's humanized antibody (see "Court Report," May 26, 2007). The agreement grants Alexion a license under certain claims within the disputed patent portfolio as well as a blanket covenant not to sue covering other claims in the portfolio.
As part of the agreement, Alexion has agreed to pay PDL a one time consideration of $25 million. The licensing agreement also provides Alexion with the future right to take a royalty-bearing license to commercialize additional Alexion antibodies that may be covered by the patents in suit. Under this future right provision, PDL would be entitled to an additional royalty of 4% of net sales of these future products. Alexion has also confirmed that the patents in suit are valid and that the Alexion product, Soliris, used technology covered by the patents. Finally, Alexion is forbidden from challenging the validity of the patents and assisting others in challenging the validity of the PDL patents.
Very nice complement to Court Report, and something that should be very useful.
Posted by: About time | February 02, 2009 at 11:44 PM