First ruling in Amgen v. TKTX

A judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts today granted one of AMGN's motions for summary judgement, which stated that Transkaryotic Therapies Inc. and its partner Aventis S.A. literally infringed claim one of AMGN's U.S. Patent No. 5,955,422 with their GA-EPO erythropoietin product. Claim one from the '422 patent claims "a pharmaceutical composition comprising a therapeutically effective amount of human erythropoietin and a pharmaceutically acceptable diluent, adjuvant or carrier, wherein said erythropoietin is purified from mammalian cells grown in culture."

The judge did not rule on the validity or enforceability of claim one, and did not grant summary judgement with respect to claims one and four of AMGN's U.S. Patent No. 5,756,349, which cover vertebrate cells that can be propagated in vitro that are capable of producing EPO. These claims will be taken up at trial, which is scheduled to begin May 15, AMGN said. ...