ZymoGenetics files lawsuit against Bristol-Myers Squibb

Aug 15 2006

ZymoGenetic has announced that it has filed a lawsuit against Bristol-Myers Squibb for infringement of its patents related to fusion protein technology. In the lawsuit filed with the United States District Court for the district of Delaware, ZymoGenetics is seeking injunctive relief and damages.

"We have a number of patents on fusion protein technology, which we believe are being infringed by Bristol-Myers Squibb," said Bruce L.A. Carter Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of ZymoGenetics. "It is important that ZymoGenetics protect its intellectual property rights for technology that it expended significant resources in developing, and we will enforce our patents through litigation when necessary."

Amgen and Regeneron have previously licensed the use of the company's patented fusion protein technology.

Further details about the lawsuit were not provided.

About Ig-fusion protein technology

Immunoglobulin fusion proteins are proteins that are produced using recombinant DNA technology whereby a portion of an antibody (e.g., heavy chain constant domain) is combined with the portion of a second protein (typically the portion of a cell-surface receptor that is responsible for binding to a growth factor).

http://www.zymogenetics.com/