Alexion Settles Legal Dispute

Ryan McBride1/5/09

Alexion Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ALXN) reports it will pay $25 million to PDL BioPharma (NASDAQ:PDLI) to license a patent related to humanizing antibodies and to settle a legal dispute between the two companies. Cheshire, CT-based Alexion says the license enables the firm to commercialize its humanized antibody eculizumab (Soliris)—now approved to treat a rare blood disorder called paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria in the U.S. and Europe—for any use without threat of legal action by PDL BioPharma.