NEW HAVEN, Conn., Feb. 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Genaissance Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: GNSC - News) announced today that it received two key notices from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The first is a notice of allowance for the Company's patent application on clinical associations that predict an individual's bronchodilating response to the drug albuterol, used in the treatment of asthma. The associations, which were previously described in the September 2000 edition of the scientific publication Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, were discovered using Genaissance's HAP(TM) Technology. The Company also announced that it was granted a U.S. patent (Number 6,521,747 B2) for haplotypes of the gene encoding angiotensin receptor 1, which is a target for drugs used to treat hypertension.
"These recent patent notices validate Genaissance's intellectual property strategy for linking gene variation to clinical response and add an important element to our commercialization plan," said Kevin Rakin, President and Chief Executive Officer of Genaissance Pharmaceuticals. "Along with our recent partnership announcements, we believe our growing patent estate solidifies our corporate strategy of developing a new generation of diagnostic and therapeutic products that include haplotype markers."
Genaissance Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a world leader in the discovery and use of human gene variation for the development of personalized medicines. The Company markets its technology and clinical development skills to the pharmaceutical industry as a complete solution for improving the development, marketing and prescribing of drugs. Genaissance has agreements with eight major pharmaceutical, diagnostic and biotechnology companies: AstraZeneca, Bayer, BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company), Biogen, Johnson & Johnson PRD, Millennium, Pfizer and Pharmacia. Genaissance is located in Science Park in New Haven, Connecticut. |
