TKTX infringes, judge rules

Judge William Young of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts ruled late Friday that Transkaryotic Therapies (TKTX) and partner Hoechst Marion Roussel (now Aventis, AVE) literally infringed two of five patents in dispute in the erythropoietin patent suit brought by Amgen (AMGN), including U.S. Patent No. 5,955,422 claiming a composition comprising a therapeutically effective amount of human EPO purified from mammalian cells used in culture. The judge also ruled that a third patent was infringed under the doctrine of equivalents. At dispute was whether TKTX's Gene Activated EPO infringes patents covering AMGN's Epogen EPO. ...