Acambis charged with patent infringement in developing smallpox jab |
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Thu, 25 Aug 2005 11:05
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COPENHAGEN: Danish biotech firm Bavarian Nordic has charged British pharma major Acambis with patent infringement. The two companies are vying for the high value order from the U.S. government for small pox vaccine.
In a statement, Bavarian Nordic said it has filed a patent infringement case before the U.S. International Trade Commission and a misappropriation of trade secrets in a U.S. federal court in Delaware in the U.S. against Acambis.
The statement said that Acambis received Bavarian Nordic's proprietary modified vaccinia Ankara (MVA) smallpox vaccine strain and dosing information without permission and used them to develop a competing product. Bavarian Nordic said it has intellectual property rights to its MVA strain.
Cambridge-based Acambis, which was served with a damage claim, reacted, saying Monday last that it does not believe the Danish company's claims have any foundation. The company's chief executive officer Gordon Cameron dismissed the claim saying, "We have freedom to research, develop, manufacture and sell our MVA vaccine candidate. That position still stands and we do not expect either of the Bavarian Nordic legal actions to affect that position, in particular for the current U.S. Government tender process."
The U.S. government is shopping for 20 million doses of MVA to safeguard its citizens from a potential bio-terrorist attack. There could be a follow-up need for 60 million doses and the two companies are the only contenders for the order, totally valued around $ 1 billion.
Bavarian Nordic contends that Acambis used secrets revealed in licensing negotiations in 2002. It also says that the National Institutes of Health of the U.S., which has been working on MVA, had access to research work carried out by Bavarian Nordic and it was not entitled to share it with anyone else. Acambis, however, says it is the U.S. government which has given the company the detailed scientific knowledge it had used in developing the vaccine.
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