Amgen Inc. has been granted a $25 million lien againstproperty owned by Genetics Institute Inc. to cover potentialfuture damages owed by Genetics Institute for infringingAmgen's erythropoietin patent.

Judge William G. Young of the U.S. District Court inMassachusetts granted the lien on Friday. The actual amount ofdamages will be determined in legal proceedings, which GIexpects to begin in April or May.

In March, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruledthat GI's manufacture of EPO in the United States for itsEuropean licensee, Boehringer Mannheim GmbH, had infringedAmgen's patent for the anti-anemia drug.

GI of Cambridge, Mass., took a non-recurring $11 millioncharge to earnings for its first fiscal 1991 quarter ended Feb.28, which it believes will cover damages. Boehringer hasagreed to indemnify GI for damages exceeding one-third of the$34.1 million in revenues GI has received from Boehringer forEPO manufacturing.

Amgen has not yet decided how much to request in damages.

GI stock (NASDAQ:GENI) lost 75 cents on Friday, closing at$34.50. Stock of Thousand Oaks, Calif.-based Amgen(NASDAQ:AMGN) closed down $1 at $146.

The lien is against GI's Andover, Mass., property, whichincludes land and manufacturing and laboratory facilities. --Karen Bernstein

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