Update

University Appeals Cox-2 Patent Ruling

The University is asking a federal appeals court to overturn a ruling issued earlier this year that said Rochester’s patent covering a new class of pain-relieving drugs, known as cox-2 inhibitors, was invalid.

In a motion filed with the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C., last spring, the University argues that a ruling by a federal court in Rochester ignored established patent law and could stifle innovation at research universities across the country.

The appeal is the latest legal step in a long series over research by a Rochester team that discovered the gene that contains the chemical instructions for producing the enzyme cox-2 and for pinpointing the enzyme’s role in causing inflammation.

The culmination of 30 years of research led by Donald Young, a physician and biochemist at the Medical Center, the discovery set off a worldwide race among pharmaceutical companies to identify drugs that would inhibit the action of the enzyme—and, in turn, reduce inflammation and pain without the side effects common in other pain relievers.

In 2000, the United States Patent Office awarded Rochester a landmark patent for the discovery.

Last March, the lower court dismissed the University’s infringement lawsuit against drug makers Pfizer and Pharmacia, which jointly market the pain reliever Celebrex, saying the University’s patent was not specific enough to entitle Rochester to receive royalties.

“While courts are comfortable with narrow patents, there is widespread interest among research universities in ensuring that our broader, more basic research work is likewise protected by the nation’s patent laws,” said President Jackson in announcing the University’s plans to appeal.

“We believe this case exemplifies that principle, which is so fundamental to higher education’s work.”