Tuesday June 26, 3:08 pm Eastern Time
Press Release
SOURCE: Infigen, Inc.
Infigen Awarded Significant U.S. Patent for Farm
Animal Cloning; Award Brings Cloning Even Closer
to Commercial Applications by Enhancing Cell
Growth Rate
DEFOREST, Wis., June 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Infigen, Inc., announced today that the
company has been awarded another patent in a series of issued U.S. patents that encompass
essential fundamental steps for the cloning of mammals. Several patents issued worldwide
cover critical elements of Infigen's proprietary nuclear transfer (NT) technology platform.
Infigen is a privately held biotechnology company merging genomics and reproductive
technologies to advance both animal agriculture and human health.
``Infigen has a superior success rate in nuclear transfer cloning in farm mammals, relative to
the industry worldwide. Much of our success is derived from the specific proprietary
processes for mature oocyte activation covered under this new patent,'' said Walter Simson,
Chief Executive Officer of Infigen.
The patent, U.S. Patent No. 6,194,202, together with previously granted U.S. Patent Nos.
6,077,710; 5,843,754, and 5,496,720, cover critical steps for the activation of a cloned cell.
This is a critical step of the process that enables a fully-grown mammal, such as a lamb or
calf, to be grown from a single cell. Embryo growth and development are impossible without
activation of the mature oocyte.
Processes covered by relevant Infigen patents are expected to eventually lessen the cost and
complexity of cloning transgenic cattle and other livestock. These may facilitate production of
large herds that can be quickly tailored for the harvesting of both specific medicinal and
nutritional products.
The new patent affords Infigen a substantial extension of its intellectual property portfolio.
This covers all uses of NT-related cloning of mammalian cells, including livestock such as
cattle and pigs, for all agriculture and human health applications worldwide. The new patent
also recognizes Infigen's innovative application of electrofusion, the delivery of an electrical
pulse in a specific chemical environment to induce fusion.
``The core of this newly recognized intellectual property is a proprietary 'maintenance' period
we have developed for the mammalian oocyte, a critical step that enhances fusion of the nuclear material from the donor cell
with the cytoplasm of the oocyte,'' said Dr. Michael Bishop, President and Chief Scientific Officer of Infigen.
By developing the ``maintenance period,'' Infigen has been successful in enhancing the mature oocyte's rate of growth.
``This benefit translates directly into greater efficiencies -- i.e., higher rate of successful animal pregnancies -- than has been
demonstrated at competing companies,'' said Dr. Bishop.
Nuclear transfer allows the ``programming'' of cells with specific insertions of genetic instructions from one species to be
obtained from another. This is known as the ``transgenic'' process.
Authors of U.S. Patent No. 6,194,202, entitled ``Parthenogenic oocyte activation,'' include Joan L. Susko-Parrish, David L.
Northey, M. Lorraine Leibfried Rutledege, and Steven L. Stice, all of the University of Wisconsin. Infigen, Inc. wholly owns the
patent.
Infigen has developed NT processes to allow farm animals to be encoded to produce a safe, unlimited, cost-effective supply of
therapeutic hormones in milk and allow the commercial-scale production of pigs with internal organs and cells for
transplantation to humans with end stage organ disease.
ABOUT INFIGEN, INC. AND GENMARK:
Infigen, Inc., formed in August 1997, is a privately-held biotechnology company commercializing its proprietary nuclear transfer
cloning in the human health and animal agriculture fields. The company has other existing strategic partnerships with Pharming
N.V. to produce human therapeutics from the milk of transgenic cattle and Immerge BioTherapeutics, Inc., a joint venture of
Novartis Pharma AG and BioTransplant Incorporated (Nasdaq: BTRN - news), to develop genetically modified miniature
swine for the study of xenotransplantation (transplantation between species). In 2000, Infigen was issued a U.S. patent
covering critical processes for cloning any mammal, excluding humans, utilizing Nuclear Transfer. Infigen markets its agricultural
products under the trademark name of Genmark. In addition to its AgriCloning(TM) products, Genmark also markets marker
assisted selection, diagnostic testing, and tissue/cell harvesting and storage. For further information on Infigen and Genmark,
visit infigen.com and genmarkag.com
This release contains certain forward-looking statements which involve known and unknown risks, delays, uncertainties and
other factors not under the Company's control which may cause actual results, performance or achievements of the Company
to be materially different from the results, performance or other expectations implied by these forward-looking statements.
These factors include results of current or pending research and development activities, actions by the FDA and other
regulatory authorities, and other activities.
SOURCE: Infigen, Inc. |
