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AstraZeneca to buy Alexion for $39bn
AstraZeneca has announced it will acquire Boston-based biopharmaceutical company Alexion Pharmaceuticals, in what is potentially the biggest life sciences deal of this year.
Danish university sues Creative Biolabs over ‘antibody pirating’
The University of Southern Denmark has accused biotech Creative Biolabs of infringing its patent-protected monoclonal antibody, HG-HYB 7-5.
MSF urges EU to rid market of ‘avoidable suffering’ from SPCs
Médecins Sans Frontières has warned that the European Commission’s commitment to the supplementary protection certificate system risks undermining its promise to improve drug accessibility.
EC fines Teva €60.5m over pay-for-delay deal
The European Commission has fined Teva and its subsidiary Cephalon €60.5 million for agreeing to delay a cheaper generic version of sleep disorder drug modafinil.
Emer Cooke becomes first woman to lead EMA
The first woman to act as executive director of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has officially started in the role.
UKIPO rejects BASF’s agri-chemical trademark opposition
German chemicals company BASF has failed to persuade the UK Intellectual Property Office that an applied-for trademark to cover agricultural chemicals is confusingly similar to its own existing trademark.
EC signs contract with Pfizer to access watershed vaccine
The European Commission has approved a fourth contract with pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and BioNTech, following their revelation that they had developed a vaccine that could potentially prevent more than 90% of people from becoming infected by COVID-19.
EPO reveals decision behind Broad patent revocation
The European Patent Office has released the long-awaited reasoning for its decision to uphold the revocation of a Broad Institute CRISPR/Cas9 patent. In January this year, the EPO’s Board of Appeal concluded that the Broad’s patent, EP2,771,468, lacked novelty due to an invalid claim to priority. The EPO dealt with three questions in its reasoning.
Bayer to spend up to $4bn on Asklepios BioPharmaceutical
Germany-based Bayer will pay up to $4 billion to acquire gene therapy company Asklepios BioPharmaceutical.
English court resumes Amgen cholesterol patent suit
The English High Court has lifted a stay on Amgen’s lawsuit which accused Sanofi-Aventis and Regeneron of infringing a patent covering pharmaceuticals which treat elevated cholesterol levels.