Bavarian Nordic claims that the defendants have infringed its three patents by commercializing the patented technology in ways that have yielded large payments from Sanofi-Aventis under the agreement between them for the development and commercialization of TroVax.
Bavarian Nordic owns several US patents relating to an attenuated strain of the company’s core technology, MVA-BN, which is the basis for its smallpox vaccine, Imvamune. MVA-BN also holds promise as a vector for delivering recombinant vaccines.
Anders Hedegaard, president and CEO of Bavaran Nordic, said: “We have built a strong patent portfolio on the MVA technology, which we seek to utilize to expand and support our business through licensing agreements. However, if these cannot be obtained, we will vigorously defend our IP position to prevent infringement.”