Business
Approval of Vaccine patent
Approval of Vaccine patent.
About this update from Allergy Therapeutics Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"\n Allergy Therapeutics PLC\n11 May 2006\n\n\n\n\n\n Allergy Therapeutics plc (or 'the company')\n\n\n Announces approval of fundamental Vaccine technology Patent\n\nAllergy Therapeutics plc, the specialist pharmaceutical company focused on\nallergy vaccination, today announces that it has been granted a broad\ntechnology patent for the combination of MPL(R) with tyrosine and an antigen by\nthe European Patent Office, covering 24 countries in Europe.\n\nThe patent is important because it covers vaccine therapy for any bacterial or\nviral disease and uses an antigen derived from the target organism. Therefore\nthe advanced MPL + tyrosine adjuvant combination, which the company already \nuses in its therapeutic allergy vaccines, may be employed in the anti-infective\nfield, as a prophylactic or preventative vaccine. This patent also covers the\nuse of this advanced adjuvant system in cancer immunotherapy in addition to\nbacterial and viral immunotherapy. Infectious disease remains the leading cause\nof death worldwide and vaccines are recognised as a cost effective solution\nwhich will become increasingly important in a market worth in excess of $50\nbillion.\n\nMPL is classified as a TLR4 agonist that acts as a Th1-inducing adjuvant; the\nadjuvant qualities are enhanced in the presence of tyrosine. This novel\ncombination induces a shift in the immune response (incorporating the production\nof cytotoxic T cells) which provides a greater efficacy when the disease\norganism is intracellular, for example with viruses and some bacterial species.\n\nAlthough Allergy Therapeutics is focused primarily on the development on allergy\nvaccine products, at the same time its IP platform has potentially exciting\napplications in the anti-infective arena. The anti-infective vaccine market is \nvery large, estimated at $5-11 billion in 2006 and growing. Therefore, the\nownership of IP assets such as this is potentially of significant value to the\ncompany.\n\nKeith Carter, Allergy Therapeutics' Chief Executive Officer, said:\n\n\"Strong intellectual property is critical to the success of our company. It\nensures that we are able to turn great science and medicine into commercially\nviable products for ourselves, our partners and most importantly, the patients.\nWe are currently focused on delivering our strategy of bringing the next\ngeneration...