Mirus Bio Files Lawsuit Alleging that Roche’s FuGENE 6 Transfection Reagent Infringes Patent

On September 12, 2011, Mirus Bio sued Fugent, LLC for allegedly infringing its patent entitled "Process of Transfecting a Cell with a Polynucleotide Mixed with an Amphipathic Compound and a DNA-Binding Protein" (U.S. Patent No. 5,744,335). The patent issued in 1998. Claim 1 of the patent recites:

A process of transfecting a polynucleotide into a cell comprising: associating a selected cell with an amphipathic compound, an effective amount of a polynucleotide-binding protein, the polynucleotide-binding protein is selected from the group consisting of histone and histone with a nuclear localizing signal, and a selected polynucleotide, in solution, wherein encapsulation of the polynucleotide by the amphipathic compound is not required for transfection.

Both companies are located in Madison Wisconsin.

The complaint alleges that Fugent infringes the patent, both directly and indirectly (i.e., by inducing its customers to infringe the patent, and/or by contributing to the infringing actions of its customers) by making, using, selling and offering to sell the transfection reagent known as FuGene 6.

FuGene 6 is a Roche product, and appears in the Roche Applied Science catalog. I'm not sure what the relationship is between Fugent and Roche, nor why Roche was not named in the lawsuit.

If you go to Mirus Bio website homepage, this is what you will see:

FuGENE® 6 Supply Problems?
Transfect with TransIT®-LT1
Achieve Comparable Performance
"TransIT-LT1 (MirusBio) has the same performance as FuGENE® 6 (Roche) in our comparison tests."
-The RNAi Consortium (TRC), Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard

Perhaps they are referring to the lawsuit when they suggest people will be having supply problems with FuGENE 6, and might need to switch to the Mirus Bio product TransIT-LT1.

Thanks to Docket Report from Docket Navigator for making me aware of the complaint.

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