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news.Silence Therapeutics, a UK-based RNAi-focused biotechnology company, has announced that a second member of the Kreutzer-Limmer patent family has been revoked in its entirety.
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Following an oral hearing, the opposition division of the European patent Office has announced its decision to revoke a European patent in its entirety. This patent, which is held by Alnylam Europe, is a divisional of European patent EP 1 144 623, which was itself revoked in its entirety by the Technical Board of Appeal on December 09, 2008.
The patent was opposed by Silence Therapeutics, Sirna Therapeutics, Quark Biotech and Abbott Laboratories.
John Lucas, general counsel and vice president, intellectual property, at Silence Therapeutics, said: “The decision of the opposition division confirms our view that the entire Kreutzer-Limmer RNAi patent family is vulnerable and may be successfully challenged. This is now the second European patent of this family to be revoked.
“As all of the members of the Kreutzer-Limmer RNAi patent family suffer from the same shortcomings in terms of disclosure, we expect the European Patent Office will take the same position with any further patents in this patent family.”