Berlex And Biogen Battle On Over Interferon Beta

The interferon beta battle being waged by Biogen of the USA and Schering AG of Germany's US unit Berlex (Marketletters passim) moved up another gear this month when Berlex Laboratories filed suit in a US District Court alleging that Biogen is wilfully infringing the McCormick patent owned by Berlex.

Howard Robin, vice president and general manager at Berlex, said: "as a biotechnology company that has sought and received patent protection for many of its inventions, Biogen should not be surprised about the filing of today's patent suit. Biogen has known for a long period of time that Berlex owns the method Biogen is using to manufacture Avonex (interferon beta-1a). It is unfortunate that Biogen has chosen not to respect Berlex' patent rights for the exclusive use of this process."

The suit seeks to protect Berlex' valuable intellectual property and to safeguard Berlex' R&D, said the company. Berlex allows the use of the process covered by the McCormick patent in the manufacture of CHO-cell beta interferon, Beneferon, a product it intends to bring to the market, and which is clinically validated for the treatment of multiple sclerosis.