Patent ruling on US 5,192,553 in stem cell area

U.S. District Court Judge Gregory M. Sleet of the federal district court in Delaware ruled against PharmaStem in its stem cell patent infringement case against CorCell, Inc. and three other defendants (ViaCell, Inc., CRYO-CELL International).

In September 2004, the Court reversed the jury's verdict and ruled in favor of ViaCell and against PharmaStem on PharmaStem's claim of infringement of the only other patent in that case, U.S. Patent No. 5,192,553. The Court's Order of this week in December reversed a prior jury verdict with respect to the only patent remaining in the case, U.S. Patent No. 5,004,681.

Marcia Laleman, President and CEO of CorCell, noted of PharmaStem's patents: --We continue steadfast in our belief that these patents will ultimately be declared invalid following re- examination by the United States Patent and Trademark Office--


Of ViaCell: ViaCell's Viacord umbilical cord blood preservation product is used primarily for pediatric bone marrow transplants. The Company is also developing a pipeline of proprietary product candidates intended to address cancer, infertility, and cardiac diseases. ViaCell's proprietary technologies include Selective Amplification technology, which the Company believes will enable the development of stem cell products based on the isolation, purification and significant expansion of targeted stem cell populations.