CAMBRIDGE, Mass., May 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Biopure Corporation
(Nasdaq: BPUR) announced today that it has successfully defended a
challenge at the European Patent Office (EPO) to its European Patent
entitled, "A Method for Chromatographic Removal of Prions." This European
Patent covers Biopure's innovative purification method for removing
potentially infectious prion proteins from oxygen therapeutics and provides
Biopure with granted patent rights to its method in France, Germany, the
United Kingdom, Ireland, Italy, Spain, and Switzerland. The Opposition
Division of the EPO supported Biopure's rights to all of the claims
originally granted by the EPO without any modifications or restrictions.
The patent challenge was brought in an Opposition by Switzerland-based
Octapharma AG. Biopure also has granted patents covering its novel method
in many additional countries, including the United States.
"We are pleased with the decision of the European Patent Office and to
have this dispute resolved," said Zafiris G. Zafirelis, President and Chief
Executive Officer of Biopure.
The patented method is part of Biopure's purification procedures that
result in an oxygen therapeutic that independent experts have concluded is
effectively free of any risk of infectious disease transmission. In
addition, Hemopure(R) is stable without refrigeration for 36 months (2
degrees to 30 degrees centigrade) and for 18 months at elevated temperature
(40 degrees centigrade) and is compatible with all blood types. These
properties permit the product to be stocked well in advance of anticipated
use.
Biopure Corporation
Biopure Corporation develops, manufactures and markets pharmaceuticals,
called oxygen therapeutics, that are intravenously administered to deliver
oxygen to the body's tissues. Hemopure(R) [hemoglobin glutamer - 250
(bovine)], or HBOC-201, is approved for sale in South Africa for the
treatment of surgical patients who are acutely anemic. The company is
developing Hemopure for other indications and is supporting the U.S. Navy's
government-funded efforts to develop a potential out-of-hospital trauma
indication. Biopure's veterinary product Oxyglobin(R) [hemoglobin glutamer
- 200 (bovine)], or HBOC-301, the only oxygen therapeutic approved for
marketing by both the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the European
Commission, is indicated for the treatment of anemia in dogs. Biopure has
sold approximately 200,000 units of Oxyglobin since its launch in 1998.
Contact: Tiana Gorham
Biopure Corporation
(617) 234-6826
IR@biopure.com
SOURCE Biopure Corporation
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Related links:
http://www.biopure.com
http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/131224.html /
CONTACT:
Tiana Gorham of Biopure Corporation,
+1-617-234-6826, IR@biopure.com
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