CAMBRIDGE, Mass., March 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Xennex, Inc. announced today that the European Patent Office (EPO) has licensed its GeneCards(R) product. GeneCards(R) will be utilized to assist in the review and approval of patent applications in the life sciences area. Financial details of the agreement were not disclosed.
With this agreement, GeneCards(R) becomes a key component in the process of approving relevant biotech patent applications at the EPO. GeneCards(R) will be used at EPO sites throughout Europe, including those in Munich and Berlin, Germany; The Hague, the Netherlands; and Vienna, Austria. Furthermore the EPO’s Members States’ national offices will also be allowed to access GeneCards(R). Patent examiners from the EPO will access GeneCards(R) to conduct prior art research and help determine if an invention can be patented, and to retrieve relevant information to support their patent-related activities.
“GeneCards(R) has been requested by EPO examiners in biotechnology. The information provides immediate insight into current knowledge about the respective gene, including a focus on its cellular functions, and its involvement in diseases. This is valuable information for us,” said Gerard Giroud, Principal Director Documentation/Tools of the European Patent Office.
Dr. David Warshawsky, CEO of Xennex, Inc., stated: “We are pleased that the EPO has chosen GeneCards(R) to assist in their work. GeneCards(R) is widely used among thousands of academic researchers as well as R&D groups in biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, and also among intellectual property lawyers and managers. The EPO’s choice to add GeneCards(R) as a major component of their patent applications reviewing process confirms the great value that GeneCards(R) provides to professionals involved in biotech intellectual property.” He added: “IP Law firms also use GeneCards(R) in prior art searches and patent drafting and prosecution. For example, Lahive & Cockfield, LLP, a Boston-based leading intellectual property law firm in the area of biotechnology patents, uses GeneCards.” According to Lahive & Cockfield: “GeneCards(R) is extremely helpful, the biggest plus being that GeneCards(R) provides a central place for accessing all information about a specific gene which translates into a more efficient use of time and decreased frustration with other more traditionally used databases.”
About the European Patent Organization
The EPO (http://www.epo.org/) grants European patents for the contracting states to the European Patent Convention (EPC), which was signed in Munich on 5 October 1973 and entered into force on 7 October 1977. It is the executive arm of the European Patent Organization, an intergovernmental body set up under the EPC, whose members are the EPC contracting states. All EPO activities are supervised by the Organization’s Administrative Council, which is composed of delegates from the contracting states.
About GeneCards(R)
GeneCards(R) is a compendium of human genes and their encoded proteins, with major focus on functional genomics and medical aspects including involvement in diseases. GeneCards(R) offers concise information about the structure and function of human genes. It extracts and integrates a carefully selected subset of the gene information, obtained from major data sources, public and proprietary, successfully overcoming barriers of data format heterogeneity. GeneCards(R) is unique in its combination of user friendly interface, as well as the organization and display of just the right mix of links and detailed information. Data are divided into “fields” such as “Aliases,” “Location,” “Ontologies,” “Expression” and “SNPs,” all searchable by keywords. Since GeneCards(R) employs automatic data mining from dozens of sources, it provides a truly complete summary for each gene. GeneCards(R) (http://genecards.weizmann.ac.il/) was developed over the last 8 years by a world-leading bioinformatics team at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel.
About Xennex
Xennex, Inc. (http://www.xennexinc.com/) is a dynamic privately held company that is dedicated to providing Biotechnology, Pharmaceutical and other life sciences companies, as well as organizations dealing with biotechnology intellectual property, the highest level of services and tools to enhance their gene-based research. Xennex’s products help such organizations to optimize their efforts to develop innovative medical products and services. Xennex operations worldwide are carried out from its offices in Massachusetts, USA. Xennex’s customers include many of the world leading biotech and pharmaceutical companies, located in North America, Europe and Japan. Xennex’s products are used in hundreds of commercial and academic organizations by thousands of users around the globe.
For further information please contact: Xennex, Inc. David Warshawsky, Ph.D. Chief Executive Officer Tel: +1-617-497-7774 davidw@xennexinc.com
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Xennex, Inc.
CONTACT: David Warshawsky, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Xennex,Inc., +1-617-497-7774, davidw@xennexinc.com
Web site: http://www.epo.org/
Web site: http://genecards.weizmann.ac.il/
Web site: http://www.xennexinc.com/
