By Donald Zuhn --
Last week, Immunomedics, Inc. announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued U.S. Patent No. 7,435,803, which is directed to humanized and chimeric anti-CD20 antibodies and CD20 antibody fusion proteins. Such antibodies are useful for the treatment and diagnosis of B-cell disorders, such as B-cell malignancies and autoimmune diseases. The '803 patent is Immunomedics' 131st U.S. patent, which is also named as an assignee on 111 U.S. patent application publications. CD20 is a non-glycosylated phosphoprotein that is expressed on the surface of all mature B-cells, and which plays a role in the development and differentiation of B-cells into plasma cells.
According to the Morris Plains, NJ-based biopharmaceutical company's press release, the '803 patent encompasses Immunomedics' veltuzumab antibody, which targets the CD20 antigen present on B-lymphocytes, leukemias, and lymphomas. Veltuzumab is currently being tested for the treatment and diagnosis of B-cell disorders, such as B-cell malignancies and autoimmune diseases. A subcutaneous formulation of veltuzumab has also been recently licensed to Nycomed GmbH for use in all non-cancer indications.
The '803 patent issued from U.S. Application No. 11/534,103, filed September 21, 2006, which is a continuation of U.S. Application No. 10/366,709, which issued as U.S. Patent No. 7,151,164 on December 19, 2006, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Nos. 60/356,132, filed February 14, 2002, and 60/416,232, filed October 7, 2002. Independent claim 1 of the '803 patent recites:
1. A chimeric or humanized monoclonal antibody that binds to CD20, said antibody having a light chain variable region CDR1 comprising the sequence RASSSVSYIH (SEQ ID NO:1); CDR2 comprising the sequence ATSNLAS (SEQ ID NO:4); and CDR3 comprising the sequence QQWTSNPPT (SEQ ID NO:5); and said antibody having a heavy chain variable region CDR1 comprising the sequence SYNMH (SEQ ID NO:8); CDR2 comprising the sequence AIYPGNGDTSYNQKFKG (SEQ ID NO:9); and CDR3 comprising the sequence STYYGGDWYFDV (SEQ ID NO:10) or the sequence VVYYSNSYWYFDV (SEQ ID NO: 13).
(Tomas Moravec, Wikipedia Commons)
For additional information regarding other related topics, please see:
• "Immunomedics Awarded Patent Covering Pancreatic Cancer Therapeutic," October 16, 2007
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