ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 7, 1991                   TAG: 9103070095
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

FEDERAL COURT KILLS ANEMIA-DRUG PATENT

A federal appeals court threw out a patent granted to a Massachusetts biotechnology company for an important drug used to fight severe anemia.

The decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit means that Amgen Inc. retains the exclusive right to produce the drug erythropoietin, EPO.

When injected into patients, EPO lessens the need for blood transfusions in those who suffer from chronic kidney failure.

Genetics Institute Inc. of Cambridge, Mass., had won a patent for a pure form of the drug. - Associated Press 


 by CNB