Cambridge Antibody Technology Announces Grant of Antibody Expression Library Patents in US
MELBOURN, England, Sept. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Cambridge Antibody Technology (Nasdaq: CATG; LSE: CAT) today announced the issue of four US patents covering antibody expression libraries -- the 'Huse/Lerner/Winter' patents. The patents are co-owned by the Medical Research Council, The Scripps Research Institute and Stratagene. Following the settlement of interference proceedings in June 1999, CAT is the sole exploiter of the intellectual property rights arising under the patents, subject to certain rights reserved by the co-owners and their pre-existing licensees.
The Huse/Lerner/Winter patents are entitled: ``Method for Producing Polymers Having a Preselected Activity'' (US 6,291,158 and US 6,291,159) and ``Method for Tapping the Immunological Repertoire'' (US 6,291,160 and US 6,291,161). The patents are generally directed to nucleic acid libraries for expression of functional immunoglobulin variable domains (or portions thereof) and methods of making such libraries.
CAT also announced the filing of an infringement suit alleging that MorphoSys AG and MorphoSys USA, Inc. infringe two of the Huse/Lerner/Winter patents (the '158 and '161 patents). The suit was filed in the United States District Court of Washington DC.
* Notes to Editors:
* Cambridge Antibody Technology (CAT)
* CAT is a UK biotechnology company using its proprietary technologies in
human monoclonal antibodies for drug discovery and drug development.
Based in Melbourn, 10 miles south of Cambridge, England, CAT currently
employs around 230 people.
* CAT is listed on the London Stock Exchange, having raised 41m pounds in its IPO in March 1997. A further offering in March 2000 raised 93m pounds. Also, CAT's ADRs are listed on the US NASDAQ National Market. CAT has an advanced platform technology for rapidly isolating human monoclonal antibodies using phage display systems. CAT has an extensive phage antibody library, currently incorporating around 100 billion distinct antibodies. This library forms the basis for the company's strategy to develop a portfolio of clinical development programmes and for discovering new drug leads using functional genomics. Five human therapeutic antibodies developed by CAT are at various stages of clinical trials.
* CAT has a number of licence and collaborative agreements in place with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies including: Eli Lilly, Pfizer, Genentech, ICOS, Genetics Institute, Wyeth-Ayerst, Human Genome Sciences, Knoll Pharmaceuticals (a subsidiary of Abbott Pharmaceuticals), AstraZeneca, Pharmacia, Oxford GlycoSciences, Genzyme, Immunex, Zyomyx and Elan.
Medical Research Council (MRC)
* The MRC is the Medical Research Council of Great Britain. The MRC owns
some of the patent rights within CAT's patent portfolio either wholly or
jointly with CAT, which they have licensed to CAT under an agreement
dated 7 January 1997.
CAT's patent portfolio
* CAT now controls US patents covering three key areas: antibody
expression libraries (Winter II and Huse/Lerner/Winter), phage display
(McCafferty) and the isolation of human antibodies to human proteins by
phage display (Griffiths).
The Winter II and Huse/Lerner/Winter patents
* The granted patents are entitled to a term expiring on 18 September
2018.
* In 1999 CAT, Scripps and Stratagene settled US interference proceedings
between patent applications in the Winter II and Huse/Lerner
(Scripps/Stratagene) patent families from which CAT gained worldwide
commercial rights to the Huse/Lerner patents. The US PTO Interference
Board added Greg Winter as an inventor on three of the four Huse/Lerner
patents, so the issued patents are therefore referred to here as the
Huse/Lerner/Winter patents.
* The patent that was granted in the US on 19 June 2001 (US 6,248,516)
forms part of the Winter II family of patents, being a divisional of the
application that entered interference proceedings.
* In Europe CAT's Winter II patent was granted on 9 April 1994 and was
upheld after opposition with an amendment to one of the 32 claims. The
opposition division decision has been appealed by CAT and MorphoSys (the
only opponent). CAT has initiated infringement proceedings against
MorphoSys in Germany which have been suspended pending the outcome of
this appeal and a possible appeal on a decision by the Opposition
Division to uphold the McCafferty patent.
* In the US the Winter II infringement action will proceed against
MorphoSys in Washington, DC, where the other patent infringement
lawsuits by CAT against MorphoSys are currently pending.
* Other patents from the Winter II family have already been granted in
Europe, Australia, Japan and South Korea. |
