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Circassia Completes In-Licensing of Anti-Allergy Intellectual Property Portfolio
OXFORD, UK – 29 November 2007 – Circassia Ltd, a specialty biopharmaceutical company focused on controlling immune system responses, today announced the in-licensing of anti-allergy intellectual property from Monash University in Australia and the Vienna-based biotechnology company BioMay. These patents relate to certain grass, nut and ragweed allergies, and represent an ideal complement to Circassia’s existing robust intellectual property portfolio in the field.
Circassia’s proprietary anti-allergy technology utilises specific small sections of allergen molecules that are responsible for causing the inappropriate immune responses that are commonly called ‘allergies’. These specially selected sub-sections, called T-cell epitopes, can desensitize patients’ immune systems to the allergens from which they are derived, resulting in tolerance.
Circassia has developed strong, lengthy and broad intellectual protection (IP) for its anti-allergy technology and has a robust patent filing and maintenance programme in place. As part of Circassia’s IP strategy the company develops numerous layers of proprietary protection. These layers can include:
· the amino acid sequence of the whole allergen
· the concept of tolerisation using T-cell epitopes
· the sequences of the allergen peptides that make up T-cell epitopes
· the minimum combination of T-cell epitopes to cover the majority of the human population
· various molecular design concepts that optimise Circassia’s T-cell epitope approach.
“Creating and maintaining robust intellectual property is essential to maximize shareholder value from important medical innovations such as Circassia’s anti-allergy technology,” said Steve Harris, Circassia’s CEO. “The patents we have licensed from Monash University and BioMay fit perfectly with our existing intellectual property portfolio, which provides broad and lengthy protection for our unique technology.”
29 November 2007