Group Sues Geron Over Stem Cell Lines
The owner of key patents on embryonic stem cells is suing Geron Corp. to prevent it from controlling commercial development of the cells. The lawsuit is a harbinger of the intellectual property battles likely to ensue in stem cell research.
Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation said it filed the suit in federal court late Monday to ensure that scientists and companies have broad access to stem cell technology and five cell lines developed at the University of Wisconsin.
Geron, based in Menlo Park, Calif., has an exclusive license to develop the cells into six types, including nerves and heart, that could be used to treat disease. But the Wisconsin foundation said Geron’s efforts to obtain exclusive rights to more cell types could prevent others from using them.
Geron said it has been invited to meet with WARF representatives to resolve the dispute, and that it plans to do so.
John McCamant, editor of the Berkeley-based Medical Technology Stock Letter, said the suit is not surprising. There is a limited number of embryonic stem cells available for academic research and the financial stakes potentially are enormous, he said.
The suit comes less than one week after President Bush said he would allow the government to fund research of only 60 specific embryonic cell lines. Five of those sought-after cell lines are at the University of Wisconsin.
“Given that the president has everybody in this box, it has increased the stakes here,” McCamant said. “The royalties down the road are potentially worth millions.”
The stem cells, extracted from days-old embryos obtained from fertility clinics, are valued by scientists because they can be coaxed to turn into any of the more than 200 cell types found in the body.
A University of Wisconsin scientist first isolated embryonic stem cells in 1998 and the university patented the discovery. Geron, because it funded the work, received an exclusive license to the six cell types.
WARF said Geron was also granted an option to extend its exclusivity to other cell types. The Wisconsin foundation said that it has extended the option three times over the last seven months during negotiations with Geron, but that the option is now expired. Geron contends that it has properly exercised its option.
Geron wanted to extend its license to cover 12 cell types, the foundation said.
Andrew Cohen, spokesman for WARF, which handles technology licensing for the University of Wisconsin, said the dispute involved a narrow legal issue over the interpretation of the option clause.
“In the end, talks broke down and we feel like we want to move the whole thing forward,” Cohen said. “The whole nation is looking for products to come out of this technology.”
He said the Wisconsin foundation will not license its stem cells for commercial development until its dispute with Geron is resolved. If the matter goes to trial, he said, a resolution could take up to a year.
Geron previously said that its license to stem cell technology covers any commercial applications of embryonic stem cells. In an interview with The Times last week, Geron Chief Financial Officer David Greenwood said that any company that produced a therapy based on embryonic stem cell technology would have to pay royalties to Geron.
Cohen said he couldn’t comment on Geron’s public statements. “I don’t know what their rationale is, but we hold the patent,” he said.
