U.S. patent office grants re-examination of RNA splicing microarray patent on behalf of Jivan

Jivan Biologics, Inc. announced today that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has ordered the re-examination of U.S. Patent No. 6,881,571. The serial number for the reexamination is 90/009,017. This patent is the sole subject of the suit ExonHit Therapeutics SA and ExonHit Therapeutics, Inc. filed against Jivan Biologics Inc. on March 12, 2007 in the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California.

On January 31, 2008, Jivan requested reexamination of all claims of the '571 patent on the basis of prior art not considered by the patent office during the original examination. The reexamination request explains the relevance of the cited prior art and the manner of applying it to each claim of the patent.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has found that the cited prior art raises a substantial new question of patentability and has ordered reexamination of all claims of the '571 patent. The duration of the reexamination process is typically one year. Detailed information about the reexamination can be accessed at http://portal.uspto.gov/external/portal/pair.

"We are pleased to hear that the USPTO has decided to reexamine the validity of this patent. We expect the patent office to consider whether claims in the '571 patent should be amended or invalidated in their entirety," said Subha Srinivasan, PhD, CEO of Jivan.

Jivan Biologics empowers scientists with new insight by providing a full catalogue of splice variant microarrays, analysis software and PCR primer designs to benefit all stages of the drug development pipeline: biomarkers in blood, diagnostics, target validation, toxicology and basic research.