caprotec bioanalytics GmbH announced today that the European Patent Office has granted the last of three core patents protecting its proprietary and revolutionary Capture Compound Mass Spectrometry (CCMS) technology.
CCMS offers a novel and direct way to investigate small molecule - protein interactions resulting in a significant functional reduction of proteome complexity. The core of the CCMS technology consists of tri-functional small molecules called Capture Compounds™. These Capture Compounds enable the direct isolation and identification of selected proteins, including membrane proteins, out of any complex biological sample.
An important application of the CCMS technology is to profile small molecule drug - protein interactions in the human proteome to discover or confirm relevant protein drug targets, the mode of drug action, and off-target proteins potentially causing adverse side effects in humans.
The newly granted European Patent No. EP 1583972 titled "Methods for Identifying Drug Non-targets" covers the use of CCMS technology for lead optimization and risk assessment of candidate drugs to make a go or no-go decision to enter the clinical trial phase. The European Patent No. EP 1485707 titled "Compounds and Methods for Analyzing the Proteome" covers Capture Compounds and methods to discover protein biomarkers for diagnostic applications. European Patent No. EP 1502102 titled "Compounds and Methods for Analyzing the Proteome" covers an array-based application of CCMS technology. Equivalent patents have been issued in many major countries.
"We are pleased about the grant of the last of our three core CCMS patents in Europe, which protect our proprietary technology and endorse the uniqueness of this powerful proteome analysis technology," states Prof. Dr. Hubert Koester, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of caprotec bioanalytics GmbH.
These new patents are additions to an already significant patent estate of the company in the fields of biopolymer syntheses, functional genomics using ribozymes, and mass spectrometry-based multiplex protein expression analysis.
The company is involved in collaborations applying CCMS technology with pharmaceutical companies to evaluate and optimize drug candidates (see press release from June 28, 2010; "caprotec bioanalytics Announces the Successful Completion of a Collaborative Research Project With Hoffmann-LaRoche").
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