LITIGATION NOTE: Crowell & Moring Secures Preliminary Injunction for Lonza in Ground-Breaking Cell Therapy Patent Infringement Case

New York – January 27, 2022: Crowell & Moring secured a significant victory - a preliminary injunction against patent infringement through trial - on behalf of Lonza Walkersville, Inc., against Adva Biotechnology Ltd. in a case involving point-of-care cell-therapy technology.

For seventeen years, Lonza and its affiliate Octane Biotech Inc. have devoted significant resources to the research, development, and manufacturing of their Cocoon® Platform—a system used to manufacture autologous point-of-care cell-therapies, for which the cells to be used in the therapies are derived from the patient’s own tissue. The Cocoon® Platform was first used to treat a patient in the United States in September 2020.

Since 2002, Lonza’s clients have obtained many patents for the technology used in the Cocoon® Platform. Lonza alleges in its lawsuit that Adva infringes seven such patents, though its motion for a preliminary injunction focused on infringement of U.S. Patent No. 10,844,338 (the ’338 Patent) by the Adva X3. Lonza sought preliminary injunctive relief to prohibit Adva from infringing the ’338 Patent, including by making, using, selling, offering to sell, or importing the Adva X3 in the United States.

On January 21, Judge Paula Xinis of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland granted in full Lonza’s motion for a preliminary injunction, using large portions of our brief and statements made by us at oral argument in her order. Pending trial, Adva is preliminarily enjoined from infringing the ‘338 Patent.

Lonza is represented by Crowell & Moring partners Anne Li and James Stronski, counsel Robert Kornweiss and Shannon Lentz, and associates Karla Arias, Michelle Chipetine, and Elissa Tenenbaum, with assistance from associate Sander Vogt.

Anne Li argued the case for the preliminary injunction with support from the entire C&M team. The case is Lonza Walkersville, Inc. v. Adva Biotechnology Ltd., Civil Action No. 8-20-cv-03099-PX in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland.