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Cadus Announces Entry of Order Setting Aside Judgment and Vacating Injunction and Obtaining of Funds Held in Escrow -- 8:09 AM EST
NEW YORK, Nov 9, 2000 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Cadus Pharmaceutical
Corporation (OTC Bulletin Board: KDUS) today announced that the U.S. District
Court for the Southern District of California entered an order granting final
judgment for Cadus in the patent infringement suit filed by SIBIA Neurosciences,
Inc. ("SIBIA") (which was acquired by Merck & Co. in 1999). The District Court
set aside the $18,000,000 judgment in favor of SIBIA, based on a 1998 jury
verdict, and vacated the injunction against Cadus, after the United States Court
of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled that the claims asserted in SIBIA's
U.S. Patent No. 5,401,629 were invalid, and that the District Court erred in
denying Cadus' motion for judgment as a matter of law.
SIBIA filed suit against Cadus in 1996 and claimed that Cadus infringed the '629
patent, which covers the use of cells, engineered to express any type of cell
surface receptor and a reporter gene, used to report results in the screening of
compounds against target assays. After trial, in December 1998, the jury issued
a verdict in favor of SIBIA and awarded SIBIA $18.0 million in damages. Cadus
appealed the jury verdict to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which
ruled in favor of Cadus on September 6, 2000 and overturned the prior judgment
entered by the District Court.
Separately, Cadus obtained the release to it from escrow of $19.9 million. In
order to stay execution pending appeal of the $18.0 million judgment obtained by
SIBIA, in March 1999, Cadus had deposited $18.5 million in escrow to secure
payment of the judgment in the event Cadus were to lose the appeal. The $19.9
million represents such $18.5 million plus interest thereon.
"The entry of the order and the return of the $19.9 million will finally permit
Cadus to focus on the future," said Russell Glass, President and Chief Executive
Officer of Cadus.
This press release may contain forward-looking statements that involve a number
of risks and uncertainties. Important factors that could cause actual results to
differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements are
set forth in the company's prospectus dated July 17, 1996 or detailed from time
to time in filings that the company makes with the Securities and Exchange
Commission. These include risks and uncertainties relating to the company's
ongoing litigation with SIBIA, including uncertainties regarding the final
outcome of the litigation and the re-examination of SIBIA's patent at issue in
the litigation, risks and uncertainties relating to the company's ability to
realize value from its assets, technological uncertainties regarding the
company's technology, rapid technological change, an intensely competitive
market, intellectual property rights and general economic conditions.
SOURCE Cadus Pharmaceutical Corporation
CONTACT: Russell D. Glass, President and Chief Executive Officer of
Cadus Pharmaceutical Corporation, 212-702-4315, rglass@sfire.com
(KDUS)
http://www.prnewswire.com
(C) 2000 PR Newswire. All rights reserved.
KEYWORD: New York
California
INDUSTRY KEYWORD: MTC
SUBJECT CODE: LAW |
