BILLERICA, Mass., July 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Millipore Corporation, a leading provider of technologies, tools and services for the global life science industry, including bioscience research and biopharmaceutical manufacturing, has filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, against W.L. Gore & Associates for infringement of Millipore’s patent rights under U.S. Patent No. 7,293,477, “Disposable, Pre-Sterilized Fluid Receptacle Sampling Device,” by selling one or more of its STA-PURE(TM) samplers.
W.L. Gore’s product competes with components of Millipore’s NovaSeptum(R) sampling system for the pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical manufacturing industries. The NovaSeptum sampling system is a sterile, disposable, completely enclosed sampling system for aseptic and sterile processes. Sampling is critical for biopharmaceutical manufacturing; an imprecise or false positive result can lead to batch loss and may also require repeat sampling and analysis at additional costs.
“This filing reflects our intention to vigorously defend our intellectual property, which is a fundamental component of the innovation we provide to our customers,” says Jean-Paul Mangeolle, President of Millipore’s Bioprocess Division.
According to Roland Heinrich, Vice President of Millipore’s Process Monitoring Tools, “Millipore’s NovaSeptum sampling system has broad industry acceptance. With our strong patent position, I am confident we will remain an industry pioneer in sampling systems.”
In 2007, Millipore Corporation successfully asserted its U.S. Patent No. 6,779,575 in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey against acts of infringement by Amesil, Inc., and obtained a consent judgment issued by the Court against Amesil. The subject of that lawsuit was also a product that competed with components of Millipore’s NovaSeptum(R) sampling system. Amesil was acquired by W.L. Gore in 2007.
About Millipore
Millipore is a Life Science leader providing cutting-edge technologies, tools, and services for bioscience research and biopharmaceutical manufacturing. As a strategic partner, we collaborate with customers to confront the world’s challenging human health issues. From research to development to production, our scientific expertise and innovative solutions help customers tackle their most complex problems and achieve their goals. Millipore Corporation is an S&P 500 company with more than 5,900 employees worldwide. For more information, visit www.millipore.com.
ADVANCING LIFE SCIENCE TOGETHER(TM)
Research. Development. Production.
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Certain of the matters discussed herein, as well as in future oral and written statements by management of Millipore Corporation that are forward-looking statements, are based on current management expectations that involve substantial risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from the results expressed in, or implied by, these forward-looking statements.
Potential risks and uncertainties that could affect Millipore’s future operating results include, without limitation, failure to achieve design wins into our pharmaceutical and biotechnology customers’ manufacturing design phase for a particular drug or vaccine; delay, suspension or termination of a customer’s volume production; fluctuations in the timing of customers’ orders; lack of availability of raw materials or component products on a timely basis; regulatory delay in the approval of new therapeutics; limitations on cash flow for operations and investment due to debt service obligations; the inability to establish and maintain necessary product and process quality levels; reduced demand for cell culture products using bovine serum; the inability to realize the expected benefits of development, marketing, licensing and other alliances; competitive factors such as new membrane or chromatography technology; risks relating to our concentration of principal manufacturing operations; the inability to successfully integrate acquired businesses; the inability to utilize technology in current or planned products due to overriding rights by third parties; potential environmental liabilities; conditions in the economy in general and in the bioscience and bioprocess markets in particular; foreign exchange fluctuations; reduced private and government research funding; exposure to product liability claims; and difficulties inherent in transferring or outsourcing of manufacturing operations. Please refer to our filings with the SEC, including our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, for more information on these and other risks that could cause actual results to differ.
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CONTACT: Janice E. Paquette, Global Director of Communication, Bioprocess
Division of Millipore Corporation, +1-781-533-5197,
janice_paquette@millipore.com; or Press, Alexandra Paparsenos of Gray &
Rice Public Relations, +1-617-367-0100, ext. 155, apaparsenos@gr2000.com,
for Millipore Corporation
Web site: http://www.millipore.com/