I stumbled across this interesting Patent of IDEC's while I was looking for their most recent release. Note that this patent was granted in December of last year and yet (as far as I know) did not appear in a news announcement. I believe that this patent covers their special adjuvant formulation (a chemical mixture that boosts the immune response to the injected protein) as applied to humans and domesticated animals. What seems special about this formuation is that the cytotoxic T lyphocyte response is targeted versus the antibody response which potentially allows more efficient anti-virals, anti-parasitic and anti-cancer immune responses. I have no idea as to how novel this is or what the potential market may be. I remember seeing something about this buried in a chart listing IDEC's pipeline but it seemed to be languishing. Perhaps something good is about to happen!
United States Patent
5,585,103
Raychaudhuri, et. al.
Dec. 17, 1996
Induction of cytotoxic T-lymphocyte responses
Inventors:
Raychaudhuri; Syamal (San Diego, CA); Rastetter; William H. (Rancho Santa Fe, CA).
Assignee:
IDEC Pharmaceutical Corporation (San Diego, CA).
Appl. No.:
919,787
Filed:
Jul. 24, 1992
Primary Examiner: Mosher; Mary E.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Burns, Doane, Swecker & Mathis, LLP
Abstract
Methods and compositions useful for inducing a cytotoxic T lymphocyte response (CTL) in a human or domesticated or agriculturally important animal. The method includes the steps of providing the antigen to which the CTL response is desired and providing an antigen formulation which comprises, consists, or consists essentially of two or more of a stabilizing detergent, a micelle-forming agent, and an oil. This antigen formulation is preferably lacking in an immunostimulating peptide component, or has sufficiently low levels of such a component that the desired CTL response is not diminished. This formulation is provided as a stable oil-in-water emulsion.
20 Claims, 14 Drawing Figures |
