Biotech DJ actions against Columbia University dismissed

Judge Mark Wolf in D. Mass. dismissed declaratory judgment [DJ]actions filed by large biotechnology companies (including Genzyme and Biogen) against Columbia University that alleged that Columbia University was improperly trying to extend its rights to a process widely used to engineer new drugs.

from the Boston Globe:

In dismissing the claims, Wolf let stand Columbia's patent itself, which the school is having reexamined by the US Patent and Trademark Office. David I. Gindler, an attorney at the firm of Irell & Manella LLP in Los Angeles who represents Columbia, said Wolf's ruling leaves open the possibility of a future decision by the government agency that would extend the school's rights after all.

Richard Axel and two colleagues created a way to splice bits of DNA into living cells to create human proteins, a basic technique used to produce many of today's best-selling biotechnology products such as Genzyme's Cerezyme for Gaucher disease and Biogen Idec's multiple-sclerosis drug Avonex.