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24.10.2006
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| Basel, Switzerland/Wilmington, Delaware, USA - Swiss biotechnology and chemicals company Lonza Ltd. said today that it would appeal a finding by a jury in the United States District Court of Delaware. Martek Biosciences had sued Lonza for the in-fringement of a variety of patents related to the production of DHA - an important omega-3 fatty acid. Based on earlier court rulings and litigation processes, Martek had dropped all its prior patent claims except for three patents that were now tried by the District Court. The jury found that these three patents were infringed by Lonza and were not invalid, as initially claimed by Lonza. |
“It is important to remove patents that have been procured through violation of the patent statutes, and thus we are disappointed with the jury’s finding,” said Peter Lagger, Global V.P. of the Lonza Food&Feed business unit. He added, “We continue to believe that Martek’s patents are invalid and have in no event been infringed by Lonza as a matter of law, particularly given the concessions at trial and hence, we will appeal the jury trial ver-dict. In addition, Lonza has recently been concentrating on new development efforts that are not impacted by Martek's patents.”
Omega-3 DHA has been shown to provide certain health benefits including reducing the risk of coronary heart disease and also positively influencing the function of the brain. The three patents in suit were United States Pat. Nos. 5,340,594, 6,410,281, and 6,451, 567, respec-tively. The case was originally filed by Martek in 2003 against Nutrinova Nutrition Special-ties and Food Ingredients GmbH Inc. In 2005, Lonza purchased the DHA-business from Nutrinova and Lonza has continued to vigorously defend the lawsuit. However, since the DHA-business is still in its infancy, the verdict of the jury trial won't have any negative im-pact on Lonza's sales and profitability.
About Lonza
Lonza is one of the world's leading suppliers to the pharmaceutical, healthcare and life sciences industries. Its products and services span its customers’ needs from research to final product manufacture. Lonza is the global leader in the production and support of pharmaceutical active ingredients both chemically as well as biotechnologically. Bio-pharmaceuticals are one of the key growth drivers of the pharmaceutical and biotech-nology industries. Lonza has strong capabilities in large and small molecules, peptides, amino acids and niche bioproducts which play an important role in the development of novel medicines and healthcare products. Lonza is also a leading provider of value chemical and biotech ingredients to the nutrition, hygiene, preservation, agrochemical and personal care markets.
Lonza is headquartered in Basel, Switzerland and is listed on the SWX Swiss Ex-change. The company employs 6,450 people and operates 25 production and R&D sites around the world, all operating to national and international quality standards (e.g. ISO) and regulations (e.g. cGMP). In 2005 Lonza had sales of CHF 2.52 billion. Further information can be found at www.lonza.com.
For further information please contact:
Corporate Communications / Investor Relations
Margot Connor
Tel +41 61 316 8566
Fax +41 61 316 9566
Mobile +41 79 401 2832
margot.connor@lonza.com
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