When Israel-based Yeda Research & Development Co. discovered the tumor necrosis inhibitory protein, it was quick to obtain a patent. The 1987 discovery was the fruit of six years of work by researchers looking for proteins that could treat the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis. Yeda licensed the patent to Immunex Corp., Wyeth and Amgen Inc. Those companies commercialized and marketed the protein as the blockbuster drug Enbrel, which was later approved to treat several other forms of arthritis as well as psoriasis.
But years after the companies took Enbrel to market, a limited liability investment partnership called Israel Bio-Engineering Project (IBEP) came out of the woodwork, claiming it was the rightful owner of the key patent. It sued Wyeth, Amgen and Immunex for infringement. IBEP had no involvement in the process of developing or researching the drug. It simply had funded a company that supported some of Yeda’s research in exchange for ownership of any discoveries resulting from that research. However, that agreement had expired a year before Yeda’s breakthrough.
