Don't fall for TKTX as Robin Hood. More like Aventis' stalking horse in a brazen attempt at piracy.
Rick, Para and others - with all respect: if TKTX wins, sell all your biotechs, genomics first, 'cause no patent will be worth the paper it's printed on.
Remember, these are the guys who tried to tell a judge they weren't claim-jumping because human cells, which they use, aren't the same as "vertebrate" cells, as covered in AMGN's patent. My six-year-old knows humans are vertebrates, and so did the judge.
There's plenty more TKTX argumentation that's more complicated but in the end just as slimy. Here's an example:
Claim #1 (pharmaceutical composition)
A pharmaceutical composition comprising a therapeutically effective amount of human erythropoetin and a pharmaceutically acceptable diluent, adjuvant or carrier, wherein said erythropoetin is purified from mammalian cells grown in culture.
TKT's strategy was to try to limit this claim to avoid infringement, since GA-EPO is produced in cell culture medium. TKT construed'erythropoetin purified from mammalian cells' to mean EPO purified directly from the interior of the mammalian cells and not from the culture in which these cells were grown, and tried to defend this interpretation of the claim by arguing that EPO does not always get secreted into the cell culture medium. Amgen defined this claim more broadly as erythropetin purified from mammalian cells grown in culture, irrespective of EPO's source (i.e.,including the cell walls and the culture medium). Judge Young decided in favor of Amgen and construed
that the claim would mean EPO purified or 'obtained in substantially homogeneous form' from the mammalian cells which have been grown in in-vitro culture, without limiting it to the interior of the cells.
The above is from summaries published by Salomon Smith Barney. I have no idea what axe they may be grinding, but the legal details are there for anyone to read, if they've got the head for it. I don't, nor do I own either stock (well, a smidge of amgn in my kids' college fund). But anyone who wants to follow this needs to do more than read the Yahoos.
Here's the ssb link:
smithbarney.com
(You have to register but it's free)
There's also an excellent post on the Fool - don't know this guy's agenda, but he's good.
boards.fool.com
Bottom line: the judge has already decided in amgn's favor in numerous "claim interpretation" issues. In plain language that seems to mean that TKTX's attempt to explain why its method is not an infringement on amgn's patents has already been rejected. The rest is largely procedure.
With so many retail investors falling for the David vs Goliath fantasy, shorting TKTX in the run-up to any decision would look like as near to a dead cert as biotech ever offers.
Hey, I sound so convincing maybe I'll follow my own advice.
all the best,
itss |
