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

To: LLCF who wrote (1026)	5/7/1999 12:48:00 AM
From: Gary L. Kepler	Respond to of 3202

INCYs response: biz.yahoo.com Incyte Prevails on Preliminary Injunction Request Court Finds a Substantial Question Exists Regarding Validity Of Affymetrix' Patent PALO ALTO, Calif., May 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Incyte Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: INCY - news) announced today that the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California has ruled in Incyte's favor and has denied the preliminary injunction request filed by Affymetrix, Inc. against Incyte. The preliminary injunction request involved Affymetrix U.S. Patent No. 5,800,992 (the '992 patent). U.S. District Court Judge, Fern M. Smith held that Affymetrix failed to establish likelihood of success, because ''Incyte's opposition has raised a substantial question regarding the validity of relevant portions of the '992 patent.'' The Court also found that Affymetrix has failed to provide any evidence of actual irreparable harm. Because Affymetrix failed to meet its burden the Court denied the preliminary injunction request. Because the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) interference involving claims 4 and 5 of the '992 patent may result in the assignment of inventorship of those claims to Incyte, the Court denied Incyte's summary judgement motion on the validity of those claims pending resolution of the interference. The Court noted that Incyte may refile its summary judgment motion if necessary when the interference is completed. By late summer, the parties expect a preliminary decision by the PTO regarding Incyte's entitlement to the '992 patent claims, and to claims covering nucleic acid microarrays in Affymetrix U.S. Patent No. 5,744,305 (the '305 patent), a key patent covering Affymetrix GeneChip(TM) technology. If Incyte prevails in these interference proceedings, Affymetrix' ability to enforce intellectual property in the DNA array field would be severely damaged. ''The judge's conclusion that Incyte has raised substantial issues regarding the validity of Affymetrix' patent supports Incyte's position that Affymetrix' patents are not valid,'' said Lee Bendekgey, General Counsel of Incyte. ''We look forward to establishing in the interferences that these arguments apply to both the '992 and '305 patents, and that Incyte is entitled to a determination of inventorship on these key patents. Further, Incyte intends to file a motion with the PTO to add Affymetrix' U.S. Patent No. 5,445,934 to the interference proceedings in order for the PTO to address the validity of that patent as well.'' Incyte Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a leading provider of an integrated platform of genomic technologies designed to aid in the understanding of the molecular basis of disease. Incyte develops and markets genomic databases, genomic data management software, microarray-based gene expression services, related reagents and services. These products and services assist pharmaceutical and biotechnology researchers with all phases of drug discovery and development including gene discovery, understanding disease pathways, identifying new disease targets and the discovery and correlation of gene sequence variation to disease. For more information, visit Incyte's web site at www.incyte.com. Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters set forth in this press release, including statements as to the implications of the ultimate outcome of any litigation and proceedings before the PTO are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the ''safe harbor'' provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially, including developments in the litigation and PTO proceeding; and other risks detailed from time to time in Incyte's SEC reports, including its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the yearr ended September 30, 1998. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof. Incyte disclaims any intent or obligation to update these forward-looking statements. SOURCE: Incyte Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

To: LLCF who wrote (1026)	5/10/1999 12:01:00 AM
From: RCMac	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3202

There is a long, informative article, principally on MLNM but with some mention of INCY and the other actors in genomic sequencing, in the current (5/24/99) Fortune: pathfinder.com The article includes the following (in Part 4): "John Maraganore, who manages a Millennium unit focused on bioengineered protein drugs, calls this rush to patent genes "the land grab." For the companies involved, he adds, "the important thing is to get California instead of Appalachia." In case you missed it, that's a plug for putting Millennium inside. With one of the world's best and biggest genomics programs, it can deploy more talent and technology to analyzing a novel gene's function than all but a handful of rivals. In principle, that should give Millennium's partners an edge, for the more that's known about a gene's role in the body, the easier it is to write a broad patent that covers its potential uses in developing drugs." --RCM