hallo idefix1, und die, die es sonst noch interessiert.
nachfolgend habe ich mal die letzte veröffentlichung bezgl. des patentstreits kopiert. ein freund von mir aus ami-land hat das zudem in knappe (deutsche) worte gepackt - siehe weiter unten...
Amgen, TKT drug patent trial ends, judge to rule later By Christopher Noble
BOSTON, Sept 8 (Reuters) - Rival biotechnology firms Amgen Inc. and Transkaryotic Therapies Inc. summed up their cases on Friday, trading accusations of greed and dishonesty as the four-month patent infringement trial over Amgen's blockbuster anaemia drug Epogen wound to a close.
``There is a common thread here, and that thread is greed,'' argued Herbert Schwartz, one of Transkaryotic's (NasdaqNM:TKTX - news) lawyers.
Amgen (NasdaqNM:AMGN - news) was ``building a wall of patents to try to stop anyone from making any kind of EPO,'' said Schwartz.
EPO is the abbreviation for erythropoietin, the protein that is the active ingredient in Epogen, which fights anaemia by boosting red blood cell counts. TKT has made its own EPO drug, Dynepo, using a different method to make the protein.
U.S. District Judge William Young took the case under advisement. From the bench, he said he will rule expeditiously.
The case started in 1997 when Amgen sued TKT and Franco-German drug giant Aventis for infringing five patents covering Epogen. TKT has said that Amgen's patents are invalid, overly broad and were obtained dishonestly.
The stakes are enormous. Epogen generated about $1.8 billion in sales for Amgen in 1999 and worldwide revenues were some $4 billion including sales through Amgen's licensing partner Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ - news).
The case has been closely watched because strong patents allow biotech firms to recoup their often enormous financial outlays and secure backing from investors for future projects.
Shares in Amgen and TKT have fluctuated during the case according to the day-to-day ups and downs of the trial. On Friday, TKT was trading down $1-1/8 at $40-3/8, while Amgen was flat on the day at $72.
In his closing remarks, Amgen lead attorney Lloyd Day sought to draw Judge Young's attention to precedents that supported his client, the world's largest biotech company.
He asserted that Amgen's patent claims were clear and that precedent showed Young must use them as the basis for his opinion.
``Look to the claim,'' he urged Young. ``If the claim is clear and unambiguous...you apply the claim as written,'' he said.
He accused TKT of taking material out of context to support its accusations. He argued TKT, the Cambridge, Mass.-based company, was the greedy party because it was trying to cash in on Amgen's original work.
und hier die essenz: tk sacht: ...es gibt einen gemeinsamen nenner und der ist gier/habsucht... ...amgen baut einen schutzwall aus patenten auf, um jeden davon abzuhalten epgon herzustellen...
amgen sagt:... sehen sie sich die ansprueche/anrechte (auf die patente) an, wenn die klar und legal sind, dann muss auch dementsprechend klar entschieden werden...
der richter wird schnellstmoeglich von seinem schreibtisch aus eine entscheidung faellen.
fazit: schaun mer mal - ich werde den wert weiter behalten. ich denke, da ist ne (positive) überraschung drin... djones
|