Intellect Neurosciences receives U.S. patent allowance for ANTISENILIN to treat AD

Mar 7 2012

Intellect Neurosciences, Inc. (OTCBB: ILNS), a biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery and development of disease-modifying therapeutic agents for the treatment of Alzheimer's and other neurological diseases announced today that it received a Notice of Allowance from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for patent claims covering the company's ANTISENILIN® monoclonal antibody platform technology for the treatment and prevention of Alzheimer's disease.  

A Notice of Allowance is a written communication from the USPTO stating its intention to grant a U.S. patent, after payment of the Government Issue fee.  Upon grant of the patent, Intellect Neurosciences will request a $2 million milestone payment from a top tier global pharmaceutical company based on its licensing agreement with the company.

"The fact that Intellect overcame an exceptionally high threshold for allowance set by the USPTO illustrates the strength of our patent, the significance of the underlying invention, and rewards our relentless efforts to obtain a patent of meaningful commercial value on behalf of the company and our shareholders," said Daniel G. Chain, PhD, Intellect Neurosciences chairman & CEO and inventor of the ANTISENILIN technology. "The decision by the USPTO to grant this patent is long overdue.  We remain confident that we will obtain allowance of additional claims in the future for the other components of the ANTISENILIN platform."

The allowed patent application discloses therapeutic antibodies to treat Alzheimer's disease. The antibodies specifically bind to the ends of the beta amyloid protein without binding to the amyloid precursor protein (APP), which has important safety advantages compared to antibodies that do not have this feature. Based on recent submissions by Intellect, the USPTO allowed patent claims directed to treatment methods that use antibodies that recognize the free C-terminus of beta amyloid 1-40.  Intellect has additional patent applications pending in the United States and in other countries relating to its antibody technology.

The best-known example of a therapeutic antibody that binds to the free C-terminus of beta amyloid 1-40 is ponezumab (aka PF-04360365).  A phase 1 study to determine effect of PF-04360365 on clearance of beta amyloid from cerebrospinal fluid in patients with Alzheimer's disease and healthy volunteers is currently recruiting patients according to www.ClinicalTrials.gov and verified by Pfizer in February 2012.  This trial, which is scheduled to complete in August 2012, follows other completed Phase 1 and 2 trials.

"It is important that the USPTO has finally acknowledged Dr. Chain's seminal discovery in 1997 that laid the foundations for Alzheimer's passive immunotherapy treatments targeting soluble beta amyloid which accumulates in the brain of Alzheimer's patients, leading to neurodegeneration," said Professor Kelvin Davies, Chairman of the Company's Scientific Advisory Board and the James E. Birren Chair in Gerontology at the University of Southern California.  "Dr. Chain's approach has already been adopted by several major pharmaceutical companies with promising clinical data."