Genentech Files Cabilly III Patent Infringement Lawsuit Over Benlysta And Arzerra Sales

Los Angeles, CA – Genentech and City of Hope are the owners of U.S. Patent No. 7,923,221 (“the Cabilly III patent”), entitled “Methods of Making Antibody Heavy and Light Chains Having Specificity for a Desired Antigen,” issued on April 12, 2011. Plaintiffs wasted no time suing GlaxoSmithKline, Human Genome Sciences, and Lonza Biologics for patent infringement, which suit was filed on the patent’s issue date. The ‘221 patent claims priority to the Cabilly II patent, filed in 1988, which in turn claims priority to the Cabilly I patent, filed in 1983. The Cabilly III patent is the most recent arsenal introduced into years of patent lawsuits, appeals, and USPTO re-examination proceedings. Details here. The Cabilly II patent was the subject of the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in MedImmune v. Genentech, 549 U.S. 118 (2007), which eliminated the “reasonable apprehension of suit” test for establishing declaratory judgment jurisdiction.

The Cabilly patents relate to methods for producing antibodies using recombinant DNA. Plaintiffs allege that HGS and GSK have entered into a co-development and commercialization agreement for the development and sale of Benlysta®. Plaintiffs further allege that Lonza Biologics manufactures ofatumumab in the United Kingdom and supplies it to GSK, with knowledge that GSK incorporates ofatumumab into the final Arzerra™ product.

The case is Genentech, Inc. et al. v. Glaxo Group Limited, et al., CV11-03065 SVW (C.D. Cal. 2011).