On 11th of February 2016, Integral Molecular, Inc. announced the issuance of two key patents in Europe and the U.S, respectively. Integral Molecular, Inc. is a leader in membrane protein antibody discovery and the issuance of patents, EP166038 and US9213027, has further strengthened the company’s rapidly expanding patent portfolio for its Lipoparticle technology. The inherent technology enables antibody discovery against challenging membrane protein targets.
The patent EP166038 is recognized as the company’s first issued European patent and provides extensive coverage for the company’s Lipoparticle technology and its numerous applications to antibody discovery and characterization.
The U.S. patent 9213027 is directed towards applications of lipoparticles in antibody screening and isolation. The invention relates to lipoparticles comprising a viral structural protein, a membrane protein and the lipoparticle can be attached to a sensor surface. The invention further relates to methods of producing and using the lipoparticle like to assess protein binding interactions.
In the area of drugs and therapeutics, membrane proteins are of immense importance as they are the targets of more than 50 percent of FDA-approved drugs; however there still remains a challenge for antibody discovery. Drugs targeting membrane proteins include antipsychotics, antihistamines, beta-blockers, anti-migraine drugs, anti-ulcer drugs, and analgesics. The proteins that span the membrane multiple times present a unique set of challenges for ligand binding and drug discovery studies, as they require a lipid environment to maintain native structure. Furthermore, there remains a continuous challenge for the development of a broad methodology that permits the rapid purification of a wide spectrum of membrane and cellular proteins. The granted US patent to Integral Molecular, Inc. provides the solution to the afore-mentioned aspects in terms of providing an assay that permit the study of membrane protein interactions and availability of vesicles that facilitate the elicitation of an immune response against membrane proteins to be mounted, particularly for the generation of monoclonal antibodies, humoral response, cellular response, and vaccines.
Integral Molecular’s proprietary antibody discovery platform, the MPS Discovery Engine®, overcomes numerous challenges associated with membrane protein targets. Lipoparticles represent a key component of MPS, and consist of virus-like particles that present highly-concentrated membrane proteins in their native conformation. In the technology, MPS is built around an elite technique of optimally combined lipoparticle and DNA immunizations in chickens. Therefore, a superior strategy becomes available for eliciting monoclonal antibodies for structurally-complex, evolutionarily conserved targets. Until date, MPS has been lucratively used to discover potent monoclonal antibodies against a variety of difficult membrane protein targets such as the P2X3 ion channel, GLUT4 transporter, and Chikungunya virus envelope protein.
About Integral Molecular, Inc.: Integral Molecular is a biotechnology company which concentrates mainly on research involving therapeutic antibodies against under-exploited membrane protein targets; which include GPCRs, ion channels, transporters, and viral envelope proteins through employment of its proprietary MPS Discovery Engine®. The MPS Discovery Engine® platform is built on the company’s own Lipoparticle and Shotgun Mutagenesis technologies. Also, the biotechnology company is involved in aiding its partners for discovery of antibodies in parallel with its own independent work of developing antibodies for licensing. In the past 15 years, the company has gained experience in optimizing membrane proteins, enabling the isolation, characterization, and engineering of monoclonal antibodies against otherwise intractable membrane protein targets. Currently, the company in-hand focuses on therapeutic programs spotlighting pain, autoimmunity, and infectious diseases.
Dr. Benjamin Doranz, President and CEO of Integral states, “These new patents represent a significant milestone in our global business strategy and complement our existing patent portfolio,” and “Our intellectual property estate now expands into Europe, a key market where we have built a large base of clients and strategic partners, including all the top pharmaceutical companies. The broadened patent coverage in the U.S. and Europe further enhances our position for licensing and partnership opportunities.”
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