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Phylogica Solidifies Intellectual Property Suite

Published: Mon 2 May 2005 12:01 AM
Phylogica Solidifies International Intellectual Property Suite Through Key US Patent.
Phylogica Ltd today received formal Notice of Allowance from the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for its pending application entitled: "Isolating Biological Modulators from Biodiverse Gene Fragment Libraries - USPTO application 09:568229". This patent secures the second "pillar" of Phylogica's international intellectual property (IP) suite in the key US market. Phylogica's IP covers the "Phylomer" libraries as well as the concept of using protein parts from sequenced genomes, other than those of a target protein, to block the interaction of that target protein.
Phylogica already has patents covering the method of screening for Phylomers in Australia and the US. The patent to be granted is one of eight patent families being maintained by Phylogica and will be its fifth fully granted patent.
According to Phylogica's Scientific Director Dr Paul Watt, this is a reflection of the maturity of Phylogica's patent portfolio. "We're delighted to have secured claims, in one of the toughest jurisdictions in the world and our largest market, covering the two key components of our fundamental enabling technology platform." Dr Watt said.
"This is a key milestone for Phylogica" said Dr Stewart Washer, CEO. "Phylogica's proprietary 'Phylomer' libraries currently contain millions of different parts of proteins. This and further extensions to the library are covered by this patent. Overall it solidifies the position of Phylogica as a leader in the field of peptide therapies and the large markets associated with this drug class. " said Dr Washer.
"Phylomers", which are parts of proteins from Phylogica's proprietary drug discovery libraries, have the potential to block disease protein interactions, providing an alternative to current protein blocking drugs such as antibodies as well as extending the range of protein targets that can be addressed beyond those available to current therapeutic techniques. Phylogica already has a proprietary lead drug candidate product pipeline in this area that is being developed.
About Phylogica
Phylogica (www.phylogica.com) was founded and incorporated in 2001 to commercialise its proprietary drug discovery technologies developed over six years through a collaboration between the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research in Perth (www.ichr.uwa.edu.au) and the Fox Chase Cancer Center (www.fccc.edu) in Philadelphia, United States. The founding research institutes have assigned their rights to the technologies into Phylogica in exchange for shareholdings in the Company. Phylogica Ltd is now a public company traded on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX:PYC)
About Phylomers
Phylomers(r) are stable fragments of naturally-occurring proteins with the ability to bind tightly to target proteins and inactivate them as a result. Phylomers(r) can be selected for activity against specific disease-target proteins.
Phylogica's proprietary Phylomer(r) Libraries, consist of collections of millions of Phylomers(r). The libraries represent a source of drug leads which double as agents for the validation of potential new targets.
ENDS

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