Defendant
2 cases as defendant.
Company overview. Seikagaku Corporation (TSE: 4548), founded in 1947 and headquartered in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, is a publicly traded Japanese specialty pharmaceutical and biotechnology company listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Prime Market (formerly K.K. Seikagaku Kenkyusho; renamed in 1962). Per financial data services (FT/LSEG, StockAnalysis), it has roughly 1,100 consolidated employees, annual revenue of about ¥36–37 billion (~US$250 million), and a market cap of roughly ¥39–40 billion (~US$270 million).
Products / operations. Seikagaku develops and manufactures glycosaminoglycan-based pharmaceuticals, principally hyaluronic acid and chondroitin sulfate products, in two segments: Pharmaceuticals and Limulus Amebocyte Lysate (LAL). Its pharmaceutical lines include intra-articular viscosupplementation injections for joint function (brands such as ARTZ, SUPARTZ FX, JOYCLU, Hylink, VISCO-3), ophthalmic surgical aids (OPEGAN, SHELLGAN), the MucoUp endoscopic submucosal resection aid, and HERNICORE for lumbar disc herniation, plus bulk sodium hyaluronate/chondroitin sulfate. The LAL segment makes endotoxin-detection reagents (e.g., Pyrochrome, Endospecy, Toxicolor). Its U.S. subsidiary, Associates of Cape Cod, Inc. (acquired 1997), sells LAL-based endotoxin tests. Most sales are in Japan.
Patent-litigation posture. Seikagaku is an operating company and a pure patent owner in the tracked matters — 0 cases as plaintiff, 2 as defendant, both PTAB challenges (IPR2025-00440 and PGR2025-00023) filed by Charles River Laboratories, Inc. in January 2025 and instituted in September 2025. It is therefore defending its own patents against a competitor's validity challenges at the USPTO, not asserting an acquired portfolio; no NPE indicators and no district-court venue pattern apply.
Notable cases. Both cases concern Seikagaku's recombinant Factor C technology for endotoxin detection (U.S. Patents 11,236,318 and 11,959,109, covering recombinantly produced horseshoe-crab Factor C proteins), squarely within its LAL diagnostics business. Charles River Laboratories is itself an endotoxin-testing player (it holds related recombinant-lysate patents), making these competitor-vs-competitor validity disputes over overlapping product space. Seikagaku's LAL patents have also faced European opposition, per IPVerse/GreyB data.
Inter partes review of US Patent 11,236,318. Trial was instituted on September 9, 2025, and the proceeding remains pending before the PTAB, with claim 21 challenged on obviousness grounds and related priority-date issues.
PTAB post-grant review of US Patent 11,959,109 brought by Charles River Laboratories, Inc. against Seikagaku Corporation. Trial was instituted on September 9, 2025, and a final decision is pending.