Chiron grants non-exclusive HCV license to Pfizer.Chiron Corporation (Emeryville, CA) granted a nonexclusive license to Pfizer, Inc. (New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of , NY) for the research, development and commercialization of therapeutics against certain hepatitis C virus
abbr. hepatitis C virus HCV 1 Hepatitis C virus, see there 2. Human coronavirus. See Coronavirus. ) drug targets. The financial terms and other details of the license were not disclosed. "Chiron's pioneering work in the field of HCV and its ongoing commitment to research have had a tremendous impact on improving human health worldwide," said William G. Green, Esq., Chiron general counsel. "We are extending that impact by strategically licensing our HCV intellectual property to aid the effort to find therapies for hepatitis C Hepatitis C Definition Hepatitis C is a form of liver inflammation that causes primarily a long-lasting (chronic) disease. Acute (newly developed) hepatitis C is rarely observed as the early disease is generally quite mild. and at the same time continuing our own work on therapeutic agents and screening technologies to treat, diagnose and prevent this serious disease." As part of the licensing agreement, Chiron and Pfizer have settled litigation An action brought in court to enforce a particular right. The act or process of bringing a lawsuit in and of itself; a judicial contest; any dispute. When a person begins a civil lawsuit, the person enters into a process called litigation. involving Agouron, a division of Pfizer. Chiron had brought a patent infringement patent infringement n. the manufacture and/or use of an invention or improvement for which someone else owns a patent issued by the government, without obtaining permission of the owner of the patent by contract, license or waiver. suit against Agouron in 1998, claiming the company violated several patents related to Chiron's hepatitis C technology. Under the terms of the current agreement with Pfizer, Chiron has agreed to withdraw the lawsuit against Agouron. In 1987, Chiron scientists Michael Houghton, Ph.D.; Qui-Lim Choo, Ph.D.; and George Kuo, Ph.D., cloned and first identified HCV as the cause of transfusion-related non-A, non-B hepatitis non-A, non-B hepatitis n. Abbr. NANB hepatitis Hepatitis that is caused by a virus that is antigenically different from hepatitis viruses A and B. . This breakthrough marked the first time a virus was cloned before it had been grown in tissue culture or otherwise isolated. The Chiron scientists received the prestigious Lasker Award in recognition of this discovery. Since the initial work, Chiron has been granted more than 100 HCV-related patents in over 20 countries, including patents directed to hepatitis C polypeptides encoded throughout the genomes of HCV. Such polypeptides can be used in a variety of medical applications, including blood screening, clinical diagnosis, vaccines and as therapeutic targets for drug screening. A number of therapeutic companies have been granted non-exclusive licenses to Chiron's HCV technology for drug screening purposes, including Bristol-Myers Squibb, GlaxoSmithKline, Japan Tobacco Inc. and Gilead. Chiron Corporation +1-510-923-2300 www.chiron.com |
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