Baxter Healthcare Corp. has asked for a summary judgment todismiss patent litigation brought against it by Rhone-PoulencRorer Inc. and The Scripps Research Institute.

Rhone-Poulenc and Scripps allege that Baxter is infringingScripps' Factor VIII:C patent Re. 32,011. Rhone-Poulenc andScripps last week filed a motion in U.S. District Court inDelaware for a preliminary injunction to prevent sales ofHemofil-M by Baxter's Hyland Division. Hemofil-M is a non-recombinant, monoclonal-purified Factor VIII.

Arguing non-infringement, Baxter, based in Deerfield, Ill.,asked the Delaware court last week to dismiss the suit. "Webelieve that Scripps' patent is invalid, and we don't infringeit," said Baxter spokesman Geoffrey Fenton.

The Delaware case had been on hold pending the outcome of asimilar case in San Francisco brought by Scripps and Rhone-Poulenc against Genentech Inc. and Chiron Corp., which aredeveloping recombinant Factor VIII.

When Scripps lost the San Francisco case, Delaware JudgeCaleb Wright granted a summary judgment based on collateralestoppel in 1989, said William Feiler, a partner at Morgan &Finnegan, a New York law firm representing Scripps. Collateralestoppel allows a judge to end a case if a similar case hasbeen lost in another court.

However, Wright granted Scripps and Rhone-Poulenc the rightto move to vacate the judgment if the San Francisco decisionwas reversed on appeal. The U.S. Court of Appeals did so inMarch, and in June Scripps and Rhone-Poulenc moved to vacatethe judgment. -- Karen Bernstein

(c) 1997 American Health Consultants. All rights reserved.