By Kwame Mensah --
Last month, Chemokine Therapeutics Corp. announced that it has been granted U.S. Patent Nos. 7,354,899, entitled "Methods of treating Autoimmune Diseases Comprising Administering CXCR4 Antagonists" and 7,368,425, entitled "Cyclic Peptides for Modulating Growth of Neo-Vessels and Their Use in Therapeutic Angiogenesis." With the issuance of the '899 and '425 patents, Chemokine's portfolio now includes at least seven U.S. patents and five U.S. patent publications.
Chemokine stated that the filing of the '899 patent, which is related to the treatment of a wide range of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases such as multiple sclerosis, arthritis, and psoriasis, was based on evidence that pathways involving the SDF-1 chemokine and its CXCR4 receptor play a significant role in autoimmune diseases.
The '425 patent is related to the use of chemokine SDF-1 (shown at left; Crump et al., 1997, EMBO J. 16:6996-7007) to induce blood vessel growth to treat cardiovascular, peripheral vascular, and other vascular diseases. Chemokine believes that SDF-1 also has the potential for use in wound healing of tissue injuries.
Dr. Donald Wong, Vice President, Drug Development, for Chemokine believes that the patents "help strengthen the Company's growing proprietary position in chemokine-based therapies which seek to address unmet medical needs." Chemokine Therapeutics, based in Vancouver, British Columbia, is a biotechnology company focused on developing chemokine-based therapies to treat cancer, blood disorders, and vascular diseases.
The '899 patent issued from U.S. Application No. 11/060,031, filed February 16, 2005. Representative independent claim 1 of the '899 patent recites:
1. A method of treating multiple sclerosis in a mammal comprising administering a CXCR4 antagonist to the mammal in an amount sufficient to (i) reduce the rate of onset of, (ii) reduce the progress of, and/or (iii) reverse symptoms of the multiple sclerosis where the antagonist is a polypeptide that comprises an N-terminal sequence of KGVSLSYR (SEQ ID NO: 3).
The '425 patent issued from U.S. Application No. 11/388,542, filed March 24, 2006. Representative independent claim 1 of the '425 patent recites:
Other representative independent claims of the '425 patent include:
• Claim 9, which recites a method of inducing angiogenesis in a tissue of a subject comprising administering to a subject an effective amount of a composition comprising an SDF-1 mimetic having the same structure recited in claim 1.
• Claim 33, which recites a composition comprising an SDF-1 mimetic having the same structure recited in claim 1.
• Claim 39, which recites a method of inducing neo-vessel formation comprising contacting an endothelial cell with a composition comprising an SDF-1 mimetic having the same structure recited in claim 1.
• Claim 41, which recites a method of inducing angiogenesis in a tissue of a subject comprising administering to a subject an effective amount of a composition comprising an SDF-1 mimetic having the same structure recited in claim 1, and wherein the angiogenesis is induced to treat, or ameliorate the symptoms of, a cancer by creating a vascularity within a tumor for transport of an agent into the tumor.
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