BioCentury
ARTICLE | Regulation

PDLI waiting to find out why it lost

March 27, 2000 8:00 AM UTC

Besides its core focus on developing humanized antibody therapeutics for a variety of indications, Protein Design Labs Inc. has enjoyed a brisk business licensing its technology to companies interested in humanizing their own antibodies, with 29 licensees. Last week, however, the European Patent

EP 0451216 issued to PDLI in 1996 covering the technique of humanizing monoclonal antibodies and was opposed by 18 companies, said Robert Kirkman, vice president of business development. When the opposition reached the oral hearing stage this month, he said, the OD revoked the broad claims, referring to article 123(2), which relates to making amendments to patent applicaons...