NGAL BioPorto and Phadia in Medwatch.dk

NGAL – For the benefit of our esteemed readers from overseas- here is a transcript of todays article on BioPorto and Phadia in medwatch.dk

http://medwatch.dk/secure/Medicinal___Biotek/article4723291.ece

The relief and joy was measurable in the voice of Bioporto’s  CEO (Thea Olesen) when MedWatch caught her on the phone, shortly after the danish Sea & Maritime Court  gave verdict in favour of BioPorto, in a case regarding the core patent  in the company’s NGALtest

“This is truly very nice. Of course there is the option of appealing, but we’ve come a long way”,” CEO Thea Olesen says

The court case was initiated in 2006 by BioPort against swedish Phadia, because the swedish company had patented the right to use HNL (aka NGAL) as a diagnostic marker for all human diseases.  BioPorto – on the other hand – felt that the Patent was to broad ins its scope, and the judges in the danish Sea & Maritime Court conceded to that

“The implications are, that market access for us is now clear, and importantly – the verdicts states that BioPort is not in anyway conflicting with other patents, the verdict is quite clear on that”  says  Thea Olesen.

This opens up for Agreements

Bioporto announced April 2012, that the company expected to enter a global distribution agreemnet with a partner during q2 (ending ultimo june), and the CEO is convinced that the verdict makes such an Agreement more likely.

“I am certain that it (the verdict) does that.  It underlines that there is market-access, and freedom to operate, for our NGAL Test, and obviously some of the global partners  have been tentative about enetering an Agreement with BioPorto, in case the verdict had been that there was not freedom to operate

When do you expect to publish a Global DistributionAgreement?

“We have publisized an Agrement  with Wiener Lab regarding Latinamerika, but Phadia’s Patent was irrelevant there. We are negotiating at full throttle, and I hope that we can release an Announcement soon.”

Rumpour has it, that you are negotiating with Siemens and Roche – can you comment on that ?

“We are negotiating with several global players. large companies.”

European Patent Organisation

Even with the Danish Patentcase now completed (if Phadia decides not to appeal to the Danish High Court)  Bioporto is still involved in a case at european level, where the diagnostic giant Abbott have appealed the patent issued by EPO to BioPorto. The patent was revoked earlier this year, Bioporto has appealed the decision – and Thea Olesen have confidence and high hopes for the Appeal.

“What gives me peace of mind regarding the Appeal, is the the revokation was based on an error, and we think we can correct the mistake during the next round. We asume, that three new judges do not enter the case, with  already made up minds, that the error should prevail. There are obvious mistakes in the way they interpretated the scientific data , and I expect that we can correct that at the Appeal”

If the case does not turn out as expected – BioPorto will lose its exclusive right to sell the NGA-test, a biomarker for diagnosing kidney injuries.

A decision is expected in 2014.