wtd, I have not been able to get a publication date on the Science paper yet. LGND's STAT program is designed to identify small orally available molecules that will mimic the signal initiated by various polypeptide hormones that use STAT pathways. LGND exclusively licensed the technology in 1992, when it was very young (was called RAFTs back then), and I would expect a series of extremely broad patents to be issued.. Here's the 1992 press release (oral delivery was indicated back then):
LIGAND PHARMACEUTICALS LICENSES GENETIC TECHNOLOGY FROM ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY SAN DIEGO (OCT. 8) BUSINESS WIRE - Ligand Pharmaceuticals has licensed a novel transcription factor technology from Rockefeller University which the company believes will be important in its research efforts to discover drugs to control cellular gene expression, according to David E. Robinson, Ligand's president and chief executive officer.
The agreement gives Ligand exclusive worldwide rights to any patents and other proprietary rights covering the technology discovered by James Darnell, M.D., at Rockefeller University, and his colleague David Levy, Ph.D., now at New York University.
Darnell, a member of the National Academy of Science, has been a key figure in explaining how cells control gene expression. He serves as a member of Ligand's scientific advisory board and as an exclusive consultant to the company.
Darnell and Levy have discovered, cloned and characterized the first members of a novel transcription factor superfamily. These related proteins transmit signals from interferon receptors on the cell surface to the cell nucleus, bringing about specific changes in the pattern of gene activity in the cell and therefore in how the cell functions.
These new receptor-activated factors of transcription (RAFTs) were recently described in Science (Volume 257, Aug. 7, 1992).
The licensed technology affords the potential to develop small organic molecules which can be administered orally to mimic or block the actions of the polypeptides interferon-alpha and interferon-gamma. Possible therapeutic applications for such drugs include cancer, inflammation and various infectious diseases.
Robert B. Stein, M.D., Ph.D., Ligand's vice president of research and preclinical development, said Darnell and Levy unraveled a central problem in biology -- explaining for the first time how interferons make cells resistant to viral infection and control cell growth.
Other polypeptide bioregulatory molecules, including cytokines, lymphokines, interleukins and various growth factors may also control gene expression through related members of the RAFT superfamily, he said.
Ligand's current drug discovery efforts focus on intracellular receptors (IRs), a superfamily of transcription factors activated by small organic hormones such as sex steroids, glucocorticoids and retinoids.
"The work of Drs. Darnell and Levy is widely acclaimed to be a scientific tour de force," Stein said.
"The RAFT technology is highly complementary to our core technology from both a technical and biological perspective. The IR and RAFT technologies provide Ligand significant, novel |
