NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 22, 2002--Antigenics Inc. (NASDAQ:AGEN - News) today announced that it has filed an opposition in the European Patent Office to European Patent no. EP 700445 B1, licensed to StressGen Biotechnologies, on grounds that its claimed invention is obvious, lacks novelty, is insufficiently described, and encompasses non-patentable subject matter. Antigenics also filed requests in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for re-examination of U.S. Patent Nos. 6,335,183 B1 and 6,338,952 B1, also licensed to StressGen, on the grounds that the claimed invention in each of these U.S. patents is not novel and is obvious over earlier publications. The European and U.S. patents claim heat shock proteins (HSPs) fused to antigens and their use in immune therapy and represent StressGen's only issued patents in Europe and the United States relating to StressGen's core therapeutic technology.
Antigenics filed an opposition to an earlier European patent licensed by StressGen and was successful in having the patent revoked in its entirety by the European Patent Office in November 2000.
"Although StressGen's patents have no impact on our use of Antigenics' HSP technology platform or on our intellectual property portfolio, we are taking these steps because we believe that StressGen's patents lack novelty," said Garo H. Armen, Ph.D., Chairman and CEO of Antigenics. "As the recognized leader in the field of HSP therapeutics, we feel that it is important to challenge the validity of these patents."
Antigenics has more than 50 issued patents worldwide, including 43 in the United States, that protect the company's HSP technologies and products. .. |
