Geron defends telomerase patents against Pharmexa

By Angela McDaniels

Seattle, Feb. 2 - Geron Corp. said it is taking action to defend its European patents related to telomerase, an enzyme involved in eukaryotic cells division that is particularly active in cancer cells.

Geron granted worldwide, exclusive rights to develop anticancer therapies that target telomerase to Merck & Co. Inc. in July 2005. However, Pharmexa AS of Hosholm, Denmark, announced on Wednesday that it intends to develop a telomerase-targeted cancer vaccine.

Geron emphasized that it has not granted a telomerase license to Pharmexa for its vaccine.

"While we are pleased that there is widespread interest in telomerase, we are committed to protecting our investment in telomerase technology through our patent position," David J. Earp, J.D, Geron's chief patent counsel and senior vice president of business development, said in a company news release.

Geron holds an intellectual property portfolio related to its work on telomerase that includes more than 90 issued U.S. patents, more than 130 granted patents in other countries and more than 150 patent applications pending around the world, according to the release.

In 2003, Geron was granted European Patent 0841396 for human telomerase, including claims broadly covering telomerase vaccines. Geron's European patent has been validated in Ireland, Great Britain, France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, Spain, Italy and Sweden.

An opposition to this patent was filed by Pharmexa, and the matter is pending before the Opposition Division of the European Patent Office. In 2005, the Opposition Division of the European Patent Office revoked the granted claims of Pharmexa's European Patent 1093381 for telomerase vaccines as a result of an opposition filed by Geron.

The granted claims were replaced with narrower claims, and the decision of the Opposition Division has now been appealed by Geron and Pharmexa to the Board of Appeal of the European Patent Office. In that appeal, Pharmexa is seeking to restore its original revoked claims and Geron has requested that all of Pharmexa's claims, including the narrowed claims, be revoked.

Geron is a biopharmaceutical company based in Menlo Park, Calif., that develops and commercializes therapeutic products for oncology that target telomerase, pharmaceuticals that activate telomerase in tissues impacted by senescence, injury or degenerative disease and cell-based therapies derived from its human embryonic stem cell platform for applications in multiple chronic diseases.

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