Deal covers complement-inhibition inventions and will dismiss claims and counterclaims between the organizations.

Alexion Pharmaceuticals will pay $10 million to acquire rights to certain Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation (OMRF) patents including those covering the company’s drug paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH), Soliris. The agreement thus obviates the legal dispute between Alexion and OMRF.


Alexion will make the payment in various amounts to be remitted in 2008 and the first half of 2009. No further amounts including royalties will be owed to OMRF related to sales of Soliris or other uses of the OMRF patents. Also, the claims filed by OMRF and counterclaims filed by Alexion in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma will be dismissed.


The deal covers certain inventions related to complement-inhibition technology made in the 1980s relating to the treatment of complement system mediated disorders. Alexion has had limited rights as a licensee since 1992. The firm is engaged in developing mAbs to block the body’s complement system. Soliris stemmed from this research and was approved in 2007.

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