Chiron is Granted Injunction Under European HCV Patent Against Murex and Affiliate Companies.

EMERYVILLE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 9, 1995--Chiron Corporation (NASDAQ:CHIR) announced today that the District Court of the Hague, The Netherlands, granted Chiron a preliminary injunction in continental Europe against the infringement of Chiron's European patent for hepatitis C virus (HCV) blood screening assays, European patent No. 0 318 216. The injunction applies to Murex Diagnostics Ltd. and its affiliates (Murex Diagnostics Benelux B.V., Murex Diagnostics S.A., Murex Diagnosticos S.A. and Murex Diagnosticis S.P.A.) in The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France and Spain. The Court also issued an injunction against infringement by Schiapparelli Diagnostici Ismunit S.P.A., an independent company contracted by Murex to take over HCV test kit manufacturing from Murex Diagnostics Ltd. The Schiapparelli injunction applies in all countries covered by the European patent: Germany, France, Italy, The Netherlands, Sweden, Austria, Belgium, Switzerland, Spain, Greece, Luxembourg and Liechtenstein.

In May 1994, the Hight Court of Justice for England and Wales ruled that Chiron's related United Kingdom HCV patent, No. GB 2,212,511 ("the '511 patent") is valid and infringed by Murex and Organon Teknika Ltd., due to their sales of immunoassays. Also last year, Chiron was granted a pan-European preliminary injunction under its European patent against Organon Teknika N.V., its affiliates, and United Biomedical Inc., the United States company that manufactures HCV immunoassays for Organon.

"This injunction and the previous injunctions we have obtained against Murex in the U.K. and Germany prevent them from selling HCV blood screening tests in all major European markets, with the exception of Italy," said Robert P. Blackburn, vice president and chief patent counsel at Chiron. "Furthermore, this injunction shuts down the site to which Murex moved its manufacturing from the U.K."

The current ruling does not include Italy, because Chiron and Murex are engaged in HCV patent litigation there. Chiron and Murex also are engaged in HCV patent litigation in Australia. Murex argued to the Dutch Court that the evidence Murex had recently presented in the Australian litigation raised questions of patent validity not previously considered by the courts which had granted Chiron the earlier injunctions. After reviewing the Australian evidence, however, the Dutch Court found the evidence did not raise any serious question of validity.

Chiron Corporation is a biotechnology company headquartered in Emeryville, California, near San Francisco. Chiron is building a healthcare business that addresses needs in several markets: diagnostics, including immunodiagnostics and bDNA probe assays; vaccines, emphasizing adult and pediatric infectious diseases; therapeutics, with an emphasis on oncology, endocrinology and serious infectious and other diseases requiring critical care; and ophthalmic products for the surgical correction of vision. Additional research programs are underway in gene therapy and gene transfer, combinatorial chemistry and cardiovascular disease.

CONTACT: Chiron Corporation, Emeryville

Larry Kurtz, 510/601-2476

Kimberly Kraemer, 510/601-2412