Subject: Genetics Institute Appeal in Patent Case With Amgen Is Rejected by High Court 
Date: Published: 10/8/91 (58 lines)
Source:  Wall Street Journal.  Copyright Dow Jones & Co. Inc. 

    Technology & Health:
    Genetics Institute Appeal in Patent Case
    With Amgen Is Rejected by High Court
    ----
    By Lawrence Ingrassia
    Staff Reporter of the Wall Street Journal

    The U. S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal by
 Genetics Institute Inc. over patent rights to a genetically
 engineered anti-anemia drug, effectively confirming a major
 patent victory won earlier this year by rival Amgen Inc. 
    The high court's decision blocks Genetics Institute, based
 in Cambridge Mass., from selling its version of
 erythropoietin, or EPO, in the U. S. It gives Amgen, based in
 Thousand Oaks, Calif., a legal monopoly over domestic EPO
 sales to kidney dialysis patients.
    EPO enables the human body to make red blood cells and
 thus is valuable in treating anemia, kidney failure and AIDS,
 among other afflictions.
    Genetics Institute had hired Harvard University Law
 Professor Laurence Tribe to represent it before the Supreme
 Court in hopes of bolstering its case.  However, the justices
 rarely review technical patent issues decided by the federal
 circuit, and Genetics Institute's chances of getting the
 Supreme Court to hear the case weren't considered good.
    "We're obviously pleased by the decision of the court," a
 spokesman for Amgen said.
    In national over-the-counter trading yesterday, Genetics
 Institute shares fell $1.375 to close at $38.125, while Amgen
 shares rose $2 to close at $54.875.
    Despite the outcome of the U. S. patent case, Genetics
 Institute's version of EPO can be made overseas and is
 already on sale in Europe and Japan.
    A spokeswoman for Genetics Institute said its executives
 were "disappointed, but not surprised" the high court didn't
 review the patent case.  She also said the court's rejection
 "doesn't change anything for us financially or operationally"
 and that the company had already accounted for the setback as
 a charge against earnings.
    Genetics Institute took a charge in the first quarter
 ended Feb. 28 that included $11 million for litigation costs
 related to the EPO case.
    Linda Miller, a PaineWebber Inc. analyst, said Genetics
 has several other promising products well along in
 development, including recombinant Factor VIII, a blood
 factor that stops bleeding in hemophilia.  "They are ready to
 move on," she says.
    Genetics Institute agreed to sell a 60% stake to American
 Home Products Corp. last month in a transaction valued at
 $666 million.

[This article is made available here by Dow Jones Co. for the
 personal and non-commercial use of callers to this bbs, in the
 hope that it will be of some help to those who are suffering
 from the disease and others who are seeking to help them.]