Serono's patent revoked
On October 10, the technical board of appeals of the European Patent Office (EPO; Munich, Germany) revoked a gene-activation patent (no. 0505500) held by a subsidiary of Serono (Geneva), Applied Research Systems ARS Holdings, for lack of enablement. Typically such grounds exist if a person skilled in the art is unable to make and use the invention without undue experimentation. Serono's decision in February to sue Transkaryotic Therapies (TKT; Cambridge, MA, USA) at the District Court of The Hague (The Netherlands) for infringement of the same patent in the production of Replagel, TKT's Fabry disease treatment, is now in doubt. With the EPO's ruling, this court case against TKT is now likely to be dismissed. The ruling comes one day after TKT won another infringement case at the US Court of Appeals (Wilmington, DE, USA), which was brought by Genzyme (Cambridge, MA, USA) and the Mount Sinai School of Medicine (New York) and was also related to the type of cells used in the production of Replagel. Genzyme signed a deal with TKT agreeing to withdraw the suit. Mount Sinai, meanwhile, still could proceed to the next level by seeking a hearing before the entire 12-member court. SL
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