Acambis reiterates it will defend latest patent infringement action 'vigorously'
Vaccine maker Acambis said that it maintains its belief that the latest claims by Bavarian Nordic about patent infringement over a smallpox vaccine "are without foundation" and it is "defending [its] position vigorously".
Late last week Danish-based vaccine maker Bavarian Nordic A/S said it has filed a patent breach action against Acambis plc at the Commercial Court in Vienna, Austria, the country where Acambis' MVA-based smallpox vaccine (MVA3000) is manufactured.
It said the legal action has been initiated to enforce its patent granted on 28 December 2005 by the European Patent Office which covers the company's MVA-BN technology.
It's the latest salvo in a battle that goes back a couple of years. The wrangle went to court in the middle of 2005 when Bavarian Nordic lodged a suit in the US alleging Acambis had misappropriated a copy of a new smallpox vaccine that had been given to the US Government to help to speed up research.
Acambis has not commented outside the courts beyond it strong statement that: "We believe that Bavarian Nordic’s claims are without foundation and are defending our position vigorously."
But in documents filed with the US District Court in Delaware last year, the company argued the Danish company's dispute is with the US Government, not with Acambis scientists.
Both companies are involved in a bidding process to supply millions of doses of smallpox vaccines to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Bavarian Nordic's US lawsuit claims a US government agency was given a sample of its strain of smallpox virus on the basis it would be used for research and not commercial purposes. However, the writ alleges, the agency then gave the strain, in effect representing Bavarian Nordic's technology, to Acambis after it won a contract to develop a vaccine.
The Cambridge-based Acambis argued in the court papers that Bavarian Nordic did not insist on any preconditions before handing the strain over to the US Government’s National Institutes of Health and that it had no authority to prevent the NIH from giving the strain to other parties, such as Acambis.
Acambis announced in early December that it had delivered 500,000 doses of its MVA3000 vaccine, to US National Institutes of Health. The delivery fulfilled a requirement of the contract that was awarded to Acambis in September 2004 for the manufacture and development of an MVA vaccine.
MVA3000 is a weakened form of smallpox vaccine that is being developed for use in people for whom the traditional smallpox vaccine is contraindicated, such as patients with disorders of the immune system or skin conditions such as eczema.
Peter Wulff, President and CEO of Bavarian Nordic (pictured), said his company's "efforts have led to the creation of valuable intellectual property, including proprietary material and the patent granted by the EPO protects the unique properties of MVA-BN. [The Vienna-based] legal action, along with those we have already instituted in the US, is being taken to protect our assets."
If the Vienna action is successful, Bavarian Nordic says it will be able to stop Acambis from the making, marketing and sale of any infringing MVA smallpox vaccines in Austria and to seek damages.
The stock market doesn't seem overly worried. Of six stock brokers closely monitoring Acambis, the balance rate it shares as a "buy" and only one recommends "sell" and the share price has recently staged a recovery from a 12 month low in early January.
