By Christopher P. Singer --
In a January 24, 2007 press release,
EvoGenix Ltd announced that U.S. Patent No. 7,166,697,
titled "V-like domain binding molecules" has been granted by the U.S.
Patent Office. According to EvoGenix,
the patent covers a protein technology termed "Evibodies®," which
are similar to antibodies and are useful in treatments and diagnostics, but are
about one tenth the size of an antibody. EvoGenix envisions that Evibodies® technology can be developed and
applied to the current antibody drug market, particularly for diagnostic
imaging and because the technology allows for more economical manufacture of
protein active agents. The '697 patent claims priority to an international
patent application (published as WO 99/45110),
filed March 5, 1999. In brief, the claims of the
'697 patent relate to a non-antibody ligand V-like domain (VLD) comprising
modifications to at least one CDR (complementary determining region) loop
structure and compositions thereof. Representative independent Claim 1 recites:
1. A modified
monomeric non-antibody ligand V-like domain (VLD) comprising within the VLD at
least one CDR loop structure or part thereof that is modified or replaced such
that (i) the size of the CDR loop structure or part thereof is increased by at
least one amino acid residue when compared with the corresponding CDR loop
structure or part thereof in an unmodified VLD; and/or (ii) the modification or
replacement results in formation of a disulphide bond within or between one or
more of the CDR loop structures, wherein the CDR loop structure is a surface
polypeptide loop structure corresponding to a complementarity determining
region of an antibody V-domain, and wherein the non-antibody ligand is selected
from the group consisting of CTLA-4, CD28 and ICOS.
More information regarding this technology as well as
EvoGenix Ltd. related technologies can be found here.
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