Bavarian Nordic A/S Receives US Notice of Allowance for New MVA-BN® Patent
Bavarian Nordic A/S announced today that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has issued a notice of allowance on one of its patent applications which, when it issues, will further strengthen the coverage of IMVAMUNE®, the company’s MVA-BN® based smallpox vaccine.
The notice of allowance is significant because it issued after the Examiner in charge of reviewing the merits of the application was provided with the arguments of invalidity and inequitable conduct made against the US patents in the case filed by Bavarian Nordic at the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC). In issuing the notice of allowance, therefore, the Examiner has properly considered and rejected the principal arguments made against the validity and the specific allegations made with respect to the procurement of the patents.
In 2005, Bavarian Nordic filed a patent infringement action against Acambis plc’s MVA-based smallpox vaccine products at the ITC alleging infringement of its US patents. These are patents that the company received on MVA-BN® in 2004 and the MVA-based vaccinia virus having specific improved properties in 2005. They are based on the same priority patent application filed in Denmark in 2000, which also forms the basis of the new, allowed patent.
Peter Wulff, President and CEO said, “This notice of allowance reinforces our position that the US patents asserted in the ITC litigation were properly procured and valid. We are confident that this will also be acknowledged by the ITC or by an appeal to the Court of Appeal for the Federal Circuit, if necessary. Right now we are very pleased that the USPTO has allowed new claims based on MVA-BN® and we are looking forward to a new issued patent in this patent family.”
