Genetic Therapy, Somatix regulatory update

The Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) declared an interference between a pending patent application by the MIT's Whitehead Institute, an application by an undisclosed biotechnology company, and Genetic Therapy Inc.'s U.S. Patent No 5,399,346.

The Whitehead technology is exclusively licensed to SOMA. SOMA's application has been accorded senior party status by the PTO based on its priority filing date of July 5, 1985. The priority date for the '346 patent is June 14, 1989. The claims of SOMA's patent application cover a method of use of genetically modified epithelial cells for ex vivo gene therapy. ...