Kymab Limited, a monoclonal antibody biopharmaceutical company, announced today that the European Patent Office (EPO) has granted Kymab’s request to entirely revoke European Patent EP1,360,287B1, owned by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc.

The revoked patent sought to cover genetically modified mice containing mouse antibody variable region loci that had been replaced with human variable region loci. Following an oral hearing before the Opposition Division of the EPO on September 17, 2014, the EPO agreed with Kymab that Regeneron’s claimed mouse invention is unpatentable since it lacks an inventive step as required by European patent law.

In addition to Kymab, both Novo Nordisk A/S and Merus B.V., a biopharmaceutical company developing cancer antibodies, opposed the patent. Regeneron will have the opportunity to appeal this decision to the Appeal Board of the European Patent Office.

Kymab is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of fully human monoclonal antibody drugs using its proprietary Kymouse transgenic antibody platform.

Source: Kymab