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Biotech / Medical : Incyte (INCY) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LLCF who wrote (1224)	10/26/1999 11:45:00 PM
From: RCMac	Respond to of 3202

Celera files preliminary patents on DNA Tuesday October 26, 10:02 pm Eastern Time biz.yahoo.com [Note the sixth paragraph and last paragraph re INCY patents.] By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent WASHINGTON, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Celera Genomics Group (NYSE:CRA - news) has filed preliminary patents on 6,500 whole or partial genes, but will take only a few of them through the full patent process, its president, J. Craig Venter, said on Tuesday. Media reports have carried criticisms of Venter for filing the preliminary patent applications -- which the U.S. Patent Office describes as being ''place-holders'' and one of several factors considered in granting a patent. Two of Celera's competitors -- Rockville, Maryland-based Human Genome Sciences Inc. (NasdaqNM:HGSI - news) and Palo Alto, California-based Incyte (NasdaqNM:INCY - news), have each filed at least 6,300 full patent applications. Venter said media reports, citing concerns that the flurry of patents will thwart promising genetic research by academics as well as competitors, were based on a misunderstanding of how patent applications work. ''It's just a step in the process,'' he said in an interview. ''We have not filed a patent application yet on any genes.'' Celera may in fact be running behind its competitors. HGSI, Incyte and other companies each hold patents on many genes, while Celera has yet to be granted any patents on genes based on its quest to sequence, or map, the human genome. Celera is one of several companies competing to sequence the human genome -- the collection of human genes. Publicly funded researchers, under the auspices of the international Human Genome Project, are doing the same. Many are doing it painstakingly. But Venter's team is using a ''shotgun'' approach, sequencing bits of genes willy-nilly in the belief they will all fit together when they are done. Last week, Celera announced it had delivered 1.2 billion base pairs of the humane genome sequence to its subscribers. Genes are made up of arrangements, or sequences, of molecules known as nucleotides, which pair up to form the ''rungs'' of the twisted ladder-like double helix of a DNA strand. COMPANY HAS ONE-THIRD OF GENOME DONE Venter believes this represents about a third of the human genome, and hopes to be finished by April at the latest. Some of the sequences have started to make sense, he said. ''We found something that could be very, very important in terms of viral disease -- a new alpha-interferon,'' Venter said. Alpha-interferons are natural immune system chemicals, some of which have been developed as hepatitis drugs. Venter said Celera had filed a preliminary patent application on this particular whole gene, found by comparing its sequence to already-published sequences of known alpha interferon genes. A pharmaceutical company on Celera's subscriber list -- he would not say which company -- is now working to see if the gene will produce an alpha interferon protein that might be used as a drug, perhaps to treat viral infections. Venter said he thinks Celera's tentative approach to patent filings makes sense. ''We are not going to spend our company's money on a bunch of patent filings,'' he said. ''We are not going to try and get a portfolio of 10,000 gene patents on speculative basis.'' Celera is sticking to a promise made at hearings before Congress last year that it would seek to patent no more than 100 to 300 genes, Venter said. The patent office routinely grants patents on genes, which allow the holder to charge fees if anyone uses them for a commercial purpose. This has generated great controversy, but Venter said it is the only way drug companies are going to use genetic information to make medicines. ''The reality is now that this is the mechanism that the pharmaceutical companies need to develop drugs,'' Venter said. Other companies agree. Using a computer program that chairman Dr. William Haseltine calls ''lawyer in a box,'' HGSI has filed 6,700 full patent applications on various genes. Last month, Incyte said it had filed 6,300 full-length gene patents and been granted 173.

To: LLCF who wrote (1224)	10/27/1999 2:09:00 PM
From: biowa	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3202

Patent action seems to be between AFFX and HYSQ this morning: Message 11717769 Message 11722633

To: LLCF who wrote (1224)	11/22/1999 11:17:00 AM
From: RCMac	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3202

INCY and PFE substantially expand collaboration re genomic sequence analysis for drug targets; INCY "issued 79 new U.S. patents covering full-length genes during the third quarter" for a total of 453 issued and allowed full-length gene patents; 50,000 human gene patent applications filed; new licensing arangements: biz.yahoo.com Company Press Release SOURCE: Incyte Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Incyte to Complete Patented Drug Target Portfolio in Collaboration With Pfizer; Portfolio to Be Licensed Broadly Through Incyte's Network of LifeSeq Gold Database Users PALO ALTO, Calif., Nov. 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Incyte Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: INCY - news), a leading provider of genomic information, announced today that they have expanded their collaboration with Pfizer Inc (NYSE: PFE - news), one of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies, that will provide Incyte with funding, scientific expertise and priorities for the completion of Incyte's patented drug target portfolio. The joint effort calls for scientists at Incyte and Pfizer to analyze all available sequence data and develop full-length clones for many pharmaceutically relevant drug targets in the human genome. In addition, Incyte plans to file patent applications on these drug targets and license them broadly to LifeSeq® Gold subscribers and its In Silico Partnership Academic Program participants. Incyte expects that this collection of high quality full-length clones, each of which is a physical copy of an entire gene, will be extremely valuable for high throughput screening of potential drugs. Based on Incyte's progress to date, the company expects the collaborative effort to be largely complete before the end of the year 2000. ''Incyte is committed to compiling a comprehensive set of drug targets from the human genome,'' said Roy A. Whitfield, Chief Executive Officer of Incyte. ''Incyte considers this latest agreement to be the cornerstone for the establishment of a pharmaceutical industry standard for drug target information and intellectual property.'' Whitfield added that the collaboration with Pfizer was prompted by the companies' longstanding relationship, and validates the importance of genomic databases in modern drug development. Scientists for Pfizer and Incyte will focus on genes that are known to respond to existing drugs. Using its proprietary gene libraries and robotics, Incyte will isolate a full-length clone for each selected gene. These physical clones enable researchers to conduct meaningful laboratory work related to drug development. To date, Incyte has filed patent applications covering an estimated 50,000 individual human genes. The company was issued 79 new U.S. patents covering full-length genes during the third quarter, bringing its total number of issued and allowed full-length gene patents to 453. As part of the collaboration, Pfizer's scientists will share their extensive knowledge of drug targets with Incyte's scientists and the two groups will work together on setting priorities. Pfizer also has licensed an undisclosed number of potential, future pharmaceutical products developed using Incyte's proprietary sequences. In addition, Pfizer has agreed to expand its subscriptions beyond Incyte's LifeSeq Gold to the ZooSeq and PathoSeq databases. Furthermore, Pfizer has extended its LifeSeq Gold subscription to run through the end of 2002. Financial terms were not disclosed. [snip]