QLT announces trial court decision in ongoing Eligard( patent litigation

QLT Inc. has announced a ruling in the on-going litigation between plaintiff TAP Pharmaceutical Products, Inc. and its co-plaintiffs and defendants QLT USA, Inc. and Sanofi-Synthelabo Inc., a member of the Sanofi-aventis Group.

The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois Eastern Division issued a decision denying defendants' defense that the '721 patent is unenforceable due to inequitable conduct by the patentees before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

The litigation began in 2003 when TAP sued QLT USA and Sanofi-Synthelabo alleging that QLT USA's Eligard(R) product infringes TAP's patent, US 4,728,721 (the " '721 patent"), which expires on May 1, 2006.

QLT USA had raised separate defenses of invalidity and unenforceability of the '721 patent in response to TAP and its co-plaintiff's allegations of infringement. In December 2005, a Chicago jury returned a verdict that upheld the validity of the '721 patent.

QLT USA and Sanofi-Synthelabo intend to continue to vigorously defend this case, and to appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit both the jury verdict and the trial court's decision on inequitable conduct.

To date, there has been no trial or pre-trial discovery concerning the issue of potential damages if QLT USA were not ultimately successful on appeal. In addition, a potential injunction has not been considered by the Court.