SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Allele Biotechnology and Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (“Allele”), a San Diego-based company focused on developing and adapting cutting edge technology for clinical and therapeutic use, filed two patent infringement lawsuits today – one in New York against Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and the other in California against Pfizer and BioNTech. Both complaints address the infringement of Allele’s patented mNeonGreen technology, an important reagent used in the development of therapeutics for COVID-19.
Allele’s mNeonGreen protein is considered the world’s brightest monomeric fluorescent protein, and the technology behind that protein was patented in 2019. Prominent scientific journals have touted the use of mNeonGreen as the “gold standard” for use in assays testing neutralizing antibody and vaccine candidates. Regeneron, Pfizer, and BioNTech used mNeonGreen commercially without authorization from Allele.
“I am pleased that mNeonGreen has played a pivotal role in the fight against COVID-19. In no way does Allele want to prohibit, or slow down development of vaccines or therapeutics discovered using this technology,” says Dr. Jiwu Wang, Founder and CEO of Allele. “Our goal is to have these companies recognize, as many others have before them, the hard work that went in to developing this technology and to respect our intellectual property.”
Hundreds of organizations and universities have active licenses to use Allele’s mNeonGreen technology. According to the complaint, Allele reached out to Regeneron on multiple occasions to negotiate a license on reasonable terms, but all of its requests went unanswered. In fact, no defendant sought any permission in advance of using mNeonGreen to obtain breakthrough successes in developing and testing their vaccines.
“The purpose of these lawsuits is to maintain Allele's patent rights and to ensure that an agreement can be put in place to protect the rights of current and future licensees,” says Dan Catron, Executive Director, Licensing and Business Development for Allele.
Perkins Coie LLP is representing Allele in the New York filing. Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders LLP is representing Allele in the California lawsuits.
About Allele Biotechnology and Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Established in 1999, Allele Biotechnology has focused on developing and adapting cutting edge technology for clinical and therapeutic use. Allele has worked on biological advancements that have been at the forefront of molecular biology research, including RNA interference, fluorescent proteins, induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPSCs), and camelid-derived, single-domain nanoantibodies. With the advent of the global pandemic, Allele initiated the development of a series of llama nanoantibodies against SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19. To learn more, go to https://www.allelebiotech.com.
