Biopharmaceutical company Immunomedics, which is mainly focused on the development of monoclonal antibody-based products for treating cancer, autoimmune, and other serious diseases, announced today that it has received notice that its patent application for “Anti-CD19 antibodies” will issue as U.S. patent No. 8,337,840 on Dec. 25. The claims allowed under the patent will cover the use of specific humanized anti-CD19 monoclonal antibodies and their fragments for treating autoimmune diseases. The antibodies and fragments can be used alone, conjugated to at least one therapeutic agent, or combined with other humanized, chimeric, human, or murine monoclonal antibodies, like antibodies that are reactive with CD20, CD22, CD74, or HLA-DR.
Providing coverage until 2024, the patent also protects (19)-3s, which is a novel T-cell redirecting agent made as a DOCK-AND-LOCK (DNL) complex using Immunomedics’ patented platform technology. The DNL complex recognizes CD19 on B cells and binds to CD3 on T cells. At this year’s Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology, it was reported that (19)-3s was able to simultaneously bind to T cells and non-Hodgkin lymphoma cells – and induce T-cell-mediated killing of NHL cells at less than 1 picomolar (pM) concentrations in an ex vivo setting – with minimal activity at 10 pM.
This new patent offers protection for a new class of antibodies that complements Immunomedics’ current portfolio of humanized antibodies in its clinical pipeline.
Immunomedics has developed a number of advanced proprietary technologies, allowing the creation of humanized antibodies that can be either used alone in unlabeled “naked” form” or conjugated with radioactive isotopes, chemotherapeutics, cytokines, or toxins – creating highly targeted agents in each case. Using these technologies, Immunomedics has built a pipeline of therapeutic product candidates that utilize various different mechanisms of action. The company also has a majority ownership in IBC Pharmaceuticals, Inc., which is developing a novel DOCK-AND-LOCK (DNL) method in conjunction with Immunomedics for making fusion proteins and multifunctional antibodies, as well as a new method of delivering imaging and therapeutic agents selectively to disease, especially different solid cancers (colorectal, lung, pancreas, etc.), by proprietary, antibody-based, pre-targeting methods. Immunomedics’ portfolio of intellectual property includes approximately 210 active patents in the United States and more than 400 foreign patents.
For more information, visit www.immunomedics.com
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