U.S. Patent Office Grants Dyax Corp.'s Request for an Interference with U.S. Patent No. 7,700,302 Issued to Adimab

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Dyax Corp. (NASDAQ: DYAX), a developer of novel biotherapeutics for unmet medical needs, announced today that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences has granted the Company's suggestion to declare an interference between Dyax's U.S. Patent Application No. 12/625,337 and Adimab LLC's U.S. Patent No. 7,700,302 (the ‘302 patent), both of which cover methods of displaying a library of antibodies on the surface of yeast cells.

A patent interference is a proceeding conducted by the USPTO to determine priority when two or more parties claim patent rights to the same technology. The U.S. patent system awards patents to the first party to invent a particular technology. The USPTO presumes that the parties made their inventions in the order of the filing dates for their patent applications. The party with the earliest filing date is referred to as the senior party, while the party with the later filing date is referred to as the junior party.

In this matter, the USPTO has determined that Dyax is the senior party and Adimab is the junior party, as the subject matter claimed in the ‘302 patent was disclosed in a Dyax patent application filed 16 months before the corresponding Adimab application. As the junior party, Adimab bears the burden of proof and will have to clearly demonstrate that it invented the technology at issue before Dyax.

"We believe that Adimab's ‘302 patent should not have issued and that the technology central to Adimab's antibody display technology is, in fact, a Dyax invention," stated Ivana Magovčević-Liebisch, PhD, JD, Executive Vice President Corporate Development and General Counsel. "Dyax technology has long been the industry "gold standard" for the discovery and optimization of therapeutic antibodies. Our investment in innovation is what sustains this leadership position. It is central to Dyax and to the life science industry that innovation, and the investment that sustains it, are protected."

In preparation for the interference, the USPTO has already determined that the claims of Dyax's patent application are allowable and that Adimab's ‘302 patent is not entitled to the priority date of the three earliest applications Adimab listed on the face of the ‘302 patent (all of which were filed after Dyax's earliest application).

About Dyax

Dyax is a fully integrated biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing and commercializing novel biotherapeutics for unmet medical needs. The Company's lead product, ecallantide, has been approved under the brand name KALBITOR^® in the United States for the treatment of acute attacks of hereditary angioedema (HAE) in patients 16 years of age and older.

Dyax is commercializing KALBITOR in the United States independently, and establishing strategic partnerships to develop and commercialize ecallantide for the treatment of HAE in key regions worldwide. Currently, Dyax has partnership agreements for regions including Europe, Japan, Russia, the Middle East, Israel, North Africa, Australia and New Zealand. The company is also exploring other potential indications for ecallantide, either alone or through partnerships, including drug-induced angioedema and retinal vein occlusion-induced macular edema.

Ecallantide and other compounds in Dyax's pipeline were identified using its patented phage display technology, which rapidly selects compounds that bind with high affinity and specificity to therapeutic targets. Dyax leverages this technology broadly through the LFRP, which has approximately 75 revenue generating licenses and collaborations for therapeutic discovery, as well as for affinity separations, diagnostic imaging, and research reagents. The success of the Company's LFRP royalty portfolio is illustrated by the program's advanced licensee pipeline that includes 17 candidates in clinical development. Of those candidates, four are in Phase 3 clinical trials, four are in Phase 2 and nine are in Phase 1.

Disclaimer

This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements regarding Dyax's position in its interference proceedings with Adimab and the potential outcome of such proceedings. Statements that are not historical facts are based on Dyax's current expectations, beliefs, assumptions, estimates, forecasts and projections about the industry and markets in which Dyax and its licensees compete. The statements contained in this release are not guarantees of future performance and involve certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions, which are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed in such forward-looking statements because of uncertainties involved in any future projections, as well as uncertainties associated with various activities and aspects of Dyax's business, including risks and uncertainties associated with proceedings to obtain, enforce and defend our intellectual property rights and other risk factors described or referred to Item 1A, "Risk Factors" in Dyax's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and other periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Dyax cautions investors not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements contained in this release. These statements speak only as of the date of this release, and Dyax undertakes no obligations to update or revise these statements, except as may be required by law.

Dyax, the Dyax logo and KALBITOR are registered trademarks of Dyax Corp.

Dyax Corp.
Ivana Magovčević-Liebisch, 617-250-5759
Executive Vice President Corporate
Development and General Counsel
imagovcevic@dyax.com
or
Nicole Jones, 617-250-5744
Director, Investor Relations and
Corporate Communications
njones@dyax.com

Source: Dyax Corp.

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