Patent licensing swap ends MoAb fight

Monoclonal antibody competitorsNeoRx and Immunomedics have decided they have better things todo with their time and money than spend it in court. The two companiesannounced this month that they have settled a patent infringementbattle that began three years ago.

NeoRx of Seattle initiated the litigation in 1991 when it fileda lawsuit in U.S. District Court of New Jersey charging Immunomedicswith breach of contract and patent infringement of NeoRx patentson radionuclide labeling technologies (SCAN 4/20/94 and 9/11/91).Immunomedics, of Morris Plains, NJ, responded by filing a counterclaimagainst NeoRx.

In the settlement, the companies agreed to swap licenses topatents covering their respective technologies. Immunomedics willgive NeoRx a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to U.S. PatentNo. 4,331,647 for all of NeoRx's OncoTrac imaging agents. NeoRxwill give Immunomedics a non-exclusive, royalty-free license toU.S. Patent No. 4,877,868 for all of Immunomedics' imaging products.Neither company will receive or pay cash as part of the settlement.

Both companies are preparing for market launches of mono-clonalantibody-based imaging agents. NeoRx's OncoTrac kit for imagingsmall cell lung cancer is under review by the Food and Drug Administration.Immunomedics is steering its agent, ImmuRaid-CEA for imaging colorectalcancer, through the regulatory review process as well.