MorphoSys Issued U.S. Patent for HuCAL(R) EST Technology
Thursday November 27, 4:32 am ET
MARTINSRIED, Germany and MUNICH, Germany, Nov. 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - - MorphoSys AG (OTC Bulletin Board: MPHSF; Frankfurt Stock Exchange: MOR; Prime Standard Segment) announced today that the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office has granted the Company a new patent covering its proprietary HuCAL® EST technology. The U.S. patent (U.S. 6,653,068) entitled "Generation of Specific Binding Partners to (Poly)Peptides Encoded by Genomic DNA Fragments or ESTs" covers methods for the high-level production of expressed sequence tags (ESTs) as fusion proteins and subsequent generation of HuCAL® antibodies against these proteins. The application on which the patent was based was submitted to the U.S. Patent Office in 2000. Related patent applications are pending in all major jurisdictions.
In addition, MorphoSys has recently received several notifications of allowance for further patent applications in the U.S., in Australia and in Europe. Those patents provide an extended protection of the MorphoSys HuCAL® technology and enlarge the area of application for the MorphoSys technologies.
"The granting of the HuCAL® EST patent further strengthens our patent portfolio, commented Dr. Thomas von Ruden, Chief Scientific Officer at MorphoSys AG. "HuCAL® EST is a unique technology, supporting researchers in the area of target validation and genomics research and we apply this technology in collaborations with several partners including Biogen, Centocor, Oridis Biomed and Schering."
Over the last few years MorphoSys has built a strong intellectual property portfolio around its proprietary technology, HuCAL® (Human Combinatorial Antibody Library). To date, MorphoSys has six patents granted and more than 40 applications pending worldwide. The patents and pending applications cover a variety of different technologies, including antibody libraries, screening methods, certain antibody fragment formats and specific antibodies.
About MorphoSys:
MorphoSys develops and applies innovative technologies for the production of synthetic antibodies, which accelerate drug discovery and target characterization. Founded in 1992, the Company's proprietary Human Combinatorial Antibody Library (HuCAL®) technology is used by researchers worldwide for human antibody generation. The Company currently has licensing and research collaborations with Bayer (Berkeley, California/USA), Biogen Inc. (Cambridge, Massachusetts/USA), Boehringer Ingelheim (Ingelheim, Germany), Bristol-Myers Squibb (Wilmington, Delaware/USA), Centocor Inc. (Malvern, Pennsylvania/USA), California/USA), GPC Biotech AG (Munich/Germany), Hoffmann- La Roche AG (Basel/Switzerland), ImmunoGen Inc. (Cambridge, Massachusetts/USA), Oridis Biomed GmbH (Graz/Austria), ProChon Biotech Ltd. (Rehovot/Israel), Schering AG (Berlin/Germany) and Xoma Ltd. (Berkeley, California/USA). For further information please visit the corporate website at: morphosys.com.
from the patent:
By analysing the genomic DNA or fragments thereof, ESTs, extended cDNAs, and/or the (poly)peptides/proteins encoded thereby, in certain cases, where homology, structural motifs etc. can be identified, it may be possible to assign a function to the (poly)peptide/protein which can be tested or verified in vitro or in vivo. However, the various EST-sequencing efforts have led to enormous numbers of ESTs, and to the problem how best to structure that information and how to identify interesting sequences. Hence, there is still a need for developing and using research tools directed against the (poly)peptide/protein of interest to analyse their localisation on cell and tissue types, their up- or down-regulation in certain disease or development stages or their role in activating or blocking certain interactions or signalling routes. One approach is to use antibodies or fragments thereof as such research tools. In WO93/00353 it was suggested to express the ESTs and to generate antibodies by immunising animals with the corresponding (poly)peptides. In a similar approach, DNA constructs comprising EST sequences have been injected into animals to generate an immune response against the (poly)peptide expressed in vivo (Sykes & Johnston, 1999). However, these approaches are not amenable to a high-throughput generation of antibodies. Alternatively, antibodies are generated against sets of overlapping peptides covering the EST sequence (Persic et al., 1999). In combination with screening recombinant antibody libraries, this approach can in principle be developed to generate antibody fragments as research tools with high throughput. However, it is often difficult to obtain anti-peptide antibodies with sufficiently high affinities.
Thus the technical problem underlying the present invention is to provide a generally applicable method for the generation of specific binding partners binding to (poly)peptides encoded by genomic DNA fragments or by ESTs, especially of antibodies or antibody fragments, for analysis aid functional characterisation of proteins corresponding to genomic DNA or ESTs. The solution to the above technical problem is achieved by providing the embodiments characterised in the claims. The technical approach of the present invention, to provide (poly)peptides encoded by genomic DNA fragments or ESTs for the generation of specific binding partners, such as antibodies or antibody-derived products, by expressing the (poly)peptides as fusions with (poly)peptide/protein fusion partners which lead to the formation of inclusion bodies on expression in host cells, such as E. coli, and to generate specific binding partners against the inclusion bodies and fusion proteins, obtainable therefrom, is neither provided nor suggested by the prior art.
A further problem related to the present invention was to devise a method for the expression of (poly)peptide/proteins which are not easily expressed in free form, e.g. since they are toxic to the host cell. The solution to that technical problem is also achieved by providing the embodiments characterised in the claims. The technical approach of the present invention, express the (poly)peptide/proteins as fusion proteins comprising the first N-terminal domain of the geneIII protein of filamentous phage leading to the formation of inclusion bodies, is neither provided nor suggested by the prior art.
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