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Weizmann Institute's Commercial Branch Wants to Share Patent With Biotech Giant
NEW YORK (AP) — The company at the heart of the Martha Stewart stock scandal is in the midst of a bitter patent dispute that threatens its bottom line and has led some world-renowned cancer researchers into a courtroom for a highly unusual showdown.
A judge in Manhattan federal court is deciding who is the rightful owner of a patent used for ImClone Systems Inc.'s blockbuster cancer drug Erbitux. A team of three esteemed scientists from Israel who pioneered a cancer treatment technique claim a former colleague stole their idea and was credited on a patent now owned by Aventis Pharmaceuticals Inc. and licensed to ImClone.
At stake is the future of Erbitux, a colon-cancer treatment drug made by ImClone, the company whose founder, Sam Waksal, is serving a prison sentence for his role in the stock scandal that also ensnared Stewart.
Erbitux, initially approved to treat colectoral cancer and later expanded to treat head and neck cancer, has contributed heavily to ImClone's success, and is part of a lucrative, multibillion-dollar market for cancer-fighting drugs.
But a patent lawsuit could shake up this market.
In a 2003 lawsuit, Yeda Research and Development Co. of Israel sued ImClone — which has an exclusive license for the formula used in Erbitux to inhibit tumor cells — and Aventis, claiming three of its researchers should be named as the inventors [Note by MyRehovot: In fact, Yeda has no scientists. Yeda scientists are apparently Weizmann Institute Scientists. People say Weizmann Institute did not grant tenure to Schlessinger, so, he had to seek professorship (and apply his brilliant ideas) elsewhere]. The current patent names Dr. Joseph Schlessinger, Chairman of Pharmacology at the Yale School of Medicine, as the inventor along with six others, three of whom even the defense has agreed do not belong on the patent.
One of the Israeli researchers, Michael Sela, testified that he considers Schlessinger "a superb scientist, a very good lecturer," and had thought of him as a friend and colleague before "the bad moment."
"I have a problem with his ethics," said Sela, a professor for 56 years at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel.
In recent weeks, U.S. District Judge Naomi Buchwald has heard testimony from Sela, Schlessinger and other top cancer researchers. She has not yet ruled, but she was critical of many of the arguments presented by lawyers for ImClone and Aventis during closing statements Wednesday.
The consequences could be huge for ImClone if Buchwald rules in favor of the Israeli researchers.
Source: Larry Neumeister. Future of ImClone cancer drug at stake in bitter patent dispute. The Associated Press (20 July 2006) [Fulltext]
A judge in Manhattan federal court is deciding who is the rightful owner of a patent used for ImClone Systems Inc.'s blockbuster cancer drug Erbitux. A team of three esteemed scientists from Israel who pioneered a cancer treatment technique claim a former colleague stole their idea and was credited on a patent now owned by Aventis Pharmaceuticals Inc. and licensed to ImClone.
At stake is the future of Erbitux, a colon-cancer treatment drug made by ImClone, the company whose founder, Sam Waksal, is serving a prison sentence for his role in the stock scandal that also ensnared Stewart.
Erbitux, initially approved to treat colectoral cancer and later expanded to treat head and neck cancer, has contributed heavily to ImClone's success, and is part of a lucrative, multibillion-dollar market for cancer-fighting drugs.
But a patent lawsuit could shake up this market.
In a 2003 lawsuit, Yeda Research and Development Co. of Israel sued ImClone — which has an exclusive license for the formula used in Erbitux to inhibit tumor cells — and Aventis, claiming three of its researchers should be named as the inventors [Note by MyRehovot: In fact, Yeda has no scientists. Yeda scientists are apparently Weizmann Institute Scientists. People say Weizmann Institute did not grant tenure to Schlessinger, so, he had to seek professorship (and apply his brilliant ideas) elsewhere]. The current patent names Dr. Joseph Schlessinger, Chairman of Pharmacology at the Yale School of Medicine, as the inventor along with six others, three of whom even the defense has agreed do not belong on the patent.
One of the Israeli researchers, Michael Sela, testified that he considers Schlessinger "a superb scientist, a very good lecturer," and had thought of him as a friend and colleague before "the bad moment."
"I have a problem with his ethics," said Sela, a professor for 56 years at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel.
In recent weeks, U.S. District Judge Naomi Buchwald has heard testimony from Sela, Schlessinger and other top cancer researchers. She has not yet ruled, but she was critical of many of the arguments presented by lawyers for ImClone and Aventis during closing statements Wednesday.
The consequences could be huge for ImClone if Buchwald rules in favor of the Israeli researchers.
Source: Larry Neumeister. Future of ImClone cancer drug at stake in bitter patent dispute. The Associated Press (20 July 2006) [Fulltext]
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