Britain's House of Lords Rejects the Amersham Pharmacia Biotech AB Application for Leave to Appeal.

Business/Technology Editors and Health/Medical Writers

BEDFORD, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 15, 2002

Millipore Corporation (NYSE:MIL) announced that the British House of Lords rejected the Amersham Pharmacia Biotech AB (APB) request for leave to appeal its patent infringement suit against Millipore Corporation and its UK subsidiaries for infringement of APB's UK Patent 2258415 relating to chromatography columns.

APB was seeking to overturn the Appeals Court decision of July 2001 that the Millipore Isopak chromatography column did not infringe the claims of this patent.

Commenting on the suit, Susan Vogt, President of the Millipore Biopharmaceutical Division stated: "We are happy to see the House of Lords let stand the Appeals Court finding of no infringement in this matter. This has been our position since this issue began. Our goal is to provide the best technology and expertise possible to our biotechnology and pharmaceutical customers. ISOPAK(R) has proven very beneficial to our customers in terms of simplifying a key part of the manufacturing process."

ISOPAK(R) valves are used on chromatography columns and allow for the automated packing, unpacking and cleaning of the columns without the need for disassembling the column. Millipore has several patents and applications on the ISOPAK(R) valve design and use in Europe, the U.S. and Japan.

About Millipore

Millipore is a multinational, high technology company that applies its purification technology to critical research and manufacturing applications in the life sciences and biopharmaceutical industries. Company headquarters are in Bedford, Massachusetts.

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