May 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Lexicon Genetics Incorporated (Nasdaq: LEXG - news) today announced that it has been issued U.S. Patent No. 6,218,123 (the ``123 patent'') entitled ``Construction of Normalized cDNA Libraries from Eucaryotic Cells.'' The newly-issued patent furthers the scope of Lexicon's broad patent estate in the field of gene trapping, now covered by a total of five issued U.S. patents.
The 123 patent covers Lexicon's extension of its gene trapping technology to human cells to rapidly and efficiently obtain gene sequence information from thousands of human genes. Lexicon has used the gene trapping technology to discover and file patent applications on more than 50,000 partial human gene sequences. The patented technology operates by using proprietary vectors that activate the cell's own machinery to identify novel human genes. As a result, the technology can capture gene sequence information independent of whether the gene is on or off.
This unique feature of Lexicon's gene trapping technology has enabled the Company:
-- to obtain the sequences of rarely expressed human genes, which are
thought to encode classes of proteins that are enriched for
important pharmaceutical drug targets, that are often missed by
conventional technologies; and
-- to identify the valuable protein-encoding regions of human genes
that are often difficult to identify because they are typically
found interspersed within large expanses of human genomic sequence.
The 123 patent is the latest in a series of patents covering Lexicon's gene trapping technology. The other patents provide broad coverage over the technology that Lexicon has used to generate its OmniBank® library of well over 100,000 gene knockout clones. Lexicon's gene trapping technology represents a quantum advance in the ability to define gene function, enabling a rate of gene knockout production that far exceeds historical levels of production reported by all other companies and institutions worldwide.
``The technology covered by this patent provided Lexicon with a valuable head start on the human genome,'' said Arthur T. Sands, M.D., Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Lexicon. ``We believe that, when combined with our core technology for defining gene function, our knowledge of human gene sequence provides us with unique competitive advantages in translating gene discoveries into new therapeutic products.'' |
