Chiron, Murex regulatory update

The High Court of Justice for England and Wales granted a permanent injuction against the manufacture and sale of hepatitis C virus (HCV) immunoassays by Murex Diagnostics Ltd., a unit of MXX, and Organon Teknika Ltd. The court granted the injunction based on infringement by MXX and Organon's HCV immunoassays of CHIR's British Patent No. 2,212,511. The amount of damages will be determined in a separate hearing.

The defendants asked the court to exclude from the injunction MXX's serotyping assay used in diagnostic laboratories, arguing a strong public interest in the availability of serotyping assays. In addition, MXX and Organon asked that the injunction not apply to any HCV research and development. The court denied both requests. ...