WALTHAM, MA - Repligen Corporation announced in a Tuesday press release that it has reached a settlement with ImClone Systems Inc. in the lawsuit against ImClone for infringement of US Patent No. 4,663,281 based on ImClone's manufacture and sale of Erbitux.

source: ag-IP news

The settlement provides for ImClone to make a payment of $65 million to co-plaintiffs Repligen and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and will result in net proceeds to Repligen of approximately $40 million after payment of obligations to MIT and legal expenses.

The settlement agreement serves as the basis for Repligen and MIT to dismiss the lawsuit against ImClone and Repligen has granted ImClone a non-exclusive sublicense to certain patent rights.

"We are very pleased by the settlement of this case which will enable us to end this quarter with more than $60 million in cash and cash equivalents," President and CEO of Repligen Corporation Walter C. Herlihy said.

"We plan to invest the proceeds from the settlement in the growth and expansion of both our CNS product pipeline and our bioprocessing business," he added.

In May 2004, Repligen and MIT filed an action in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts against ImClone for infringement of US Patent No. 4,663,281 based on ImClone's manufacture and sale of Erbitux.

The patent, which covers the use of certain genetic elements that increase protein production in a mammalian cell, is assigned to MIT and exclusively licensed to Repligen. Repligen and MIT were represented in the litigation by Fish and Richardson P.C.

Repligen Corporation is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of novel therapeutics for diseases that affect the central nervous system.