Allergy Therapeutics PLC
11 May 2006
Allergy Therapeutics plc (or 'the company')
Announces approval of fundamental Vaccine technology Patent
Allergy Therapeutics plc, the specialist pharmaceutical company focused on
allergy vaccination, today announces that it has been granted a broad
technology patent for the combination of MPL(R) with tyrosine and an antigen by
the European Patent Office, covering 24 countries in Europe.
The patent is important because it covers vaccine therapy for any bacterial or
viral disease and uses an antigen derived from the target organism. Therefore
the advanced MPL + tyrosine adjuvant combination, which the company already
uses in its therapeutic allergy vaccines, may be employed in the anti-infective
field, as a prophylactic or preventative vaccine. This patent also covers the
use of this advanced adjuvant system in cancer immunotherapy in addition to
bacterial and viral immunotherapy. Infectious disease remains the leading cause
of death worldwide and vaccines are recognised as a cost effective solution
which will become increasingly important in a market worth in excess of $50
billion.
MPL is classified as a TLR4 agonist that acts as a Th1-inducing adjuvant; the
adjuvant qualities are enhanced in the presence of tyrosine. This novel
combination induces a shift in the immune response (incorporating the production
of cytotoxic T cells) which provides a greater efficacy when the disease
organism is intracellular, for example with viruses and some bacterial species.
Although Allergy Therapeutics is focused primarily on the development on allergy
vaccine products, at the same time its IP platform has potentially exciting
applications in the anti-infective arena. The anti-infective vaccine market is
very large, estimated at $5-11 billion in 2006 and growing. Therefore, the
ownership of IP assets such as this is potentially of significant value to the
company.
Keith Carter, Allergy Therapeutics' Chief Executive Officer, said:
"Strong intellectual property is critical to the success of our company. It
ensures that we are able to turn great science and medicine into commercially
viable products for ourselves, our partners and most importantly, the patients.
We are currently focused on delivering our strategy of bringing the next
generation of allergy vaccines to market, but are also keen to explore the value
of our IP portfolio outside the allergy field. However, it should be stressed
that we would only seek to develop products in this field with a joint venture
partner.
This patent is the latest addition to our portfolio which provides worldwide
projection to 2022 and beyond."
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For further information:
Allergy Therapeutics plc
Keith Carter, Chief Executive Officer +44 (0)1903 845 820
Bell Pottinger
Dan de Belder +44 (0)20 7861 3232
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange