By Donald Zuhn --
Last week, Avicena Group, Inc. announced that it had been granted U.S. Patent No. 7,285,573. The '573 patent, which relates to use of creatine (lower left) and creatine phosphate (lower right) for treating amyotropic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or "Lou Gehrig's Disease," is the fifth U.S. patent to be awarded to the Palo Alto, California-based biotech company.
According to the statement released by Avicena, the '573 patent "provides further protection for the Company's growing portfolio of drug candidates for the treatment of ALS, which are designed to slow disease progression and improve the quality of life for patients." Among Avicena's ALS drug candidates are AL-02 and AL-08, which have been the subjects of Phase II/III trials conducted by the Northeast ALS Consortium (NEALS), Carolinas Medical Center, and Utrecht University. The results of these trials indicate that Avicena's ALS drug candidates show a 1.47-fold increase in median survival compared to results in patients taking a placebo. Avcena Chairman and CEO Dr. Belinda Tsao Nivaggioli stated that the company was "very excited about the prospects of AL-02 for the treatment of ALS" and was currently preparing for confirmatory Phase III trials in early 2008.
The '573 patent issued from U.S. Application No. 10/718,846, filed November 21, 2003, and claims the benefit of U.S. Application No. 08/853,174 (which issued as U.S. Patent No. 6,706,764), which was a national stage application of International Application No. PCT/US95/14567, which claims the benefit of U.S. Application No. No. 08/336,388, filed November 8, 1994. Representative independent claims 1, 3, 5, and 7 of the '573 patent recite:
1. A method for treating a subject afflicted with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, comprising administering to the subject an amount of creatine, such that the subject is treated for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
3. A method for treating a subject afflicted with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, comprising administering to the subject an amount of creatine phosphate, such that the subject is treated for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
5. A method for reducing progression of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in a subject, comprising administering to the subject an amount of creatine, such that the progression of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in said subject is reduced.
7. A method for reducing progression of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in a subject, comprising administering to the subject an amount of creatine phosphate, such that the progression of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in said subject is reduced.
Creatine is presently available as a nutritional supplement. How exactly does the patentee plan to enforce this patent?
Posted by: DJF | November 25, 2007 at 05:22 AM