NEW YORK, Nov. 9, 2011 (ANTARA/PRNewswire-AsiaNet) --
Intellect Neurosciences, Inc. (OTCBB: ILNS), a biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery and development of disease-modifying therapeutic agents for the treatment of Alzheimer's and other neurological diseases announces today that the Japanese Patent Office has granted the company two new patents for its Alzheimer's immunotherapy programs. Behind the United States, Japan is the second largest pharmaceutical market worldwide based on total revenue.
"Building our intellectual property portfolio across the globe is an essential part of our overall business plan," commented Daniel Chain, Ph.D., Chairman and CEO of Intellect Neurosciences. "As we continue development of these technologies, through significant milestones in the near future, we anticipate continued interest in our pipeline from strategic partners and additional revenue-generating partnerships."
One patent is for the company's RECALL-VAX(TM) technology and follows patents granted for that technology in Europe and the United States. The second is for IN-N01, which is already patented in the United States. The new immunotherapy patents expand the company's Japanese patent portfolio, which began in 2006 with its ANTISENILIN(R) Alzheimer's monoclonal antibody technology.
RECALL-VAX is an active vaccine intended to generate highly specific antibodies against beta amyloid in serum of patients. The vaccine is a chimeric peptide comprised of a short human antigen B-cell neoepitope linked to a bacterial T-cell epitope such as Tetanus Toxoid against which most people have been previously vaccinated. The vaccine has therapeutic as well as prophylactic potential. Intellect is initiating further proof of concept studies in France to obtain multiple biomarker read-outs in transgenic models of Alzheimer's disease prior to commencing planned preclinical development work and ultimately testing in human clinical trials.
IN-N01 is a proprietary product of the company's ANTISENILIN technology platform, which includes other products in development such as Bapineuzumab, which are being developed independently by major pharmaceutical companies. IN-N01 has similar specificity for the beta amyloid toxin as does Bapineuzumab. However, in contrast to Bapineuzumab, IN-N01 may have reduced risk of inflammation from immune responses in patients. In addition, IN-N01 is being developed as an antibody drug conjugate with OX2 under Intellect's new CONJUMAB-A platform technology. This combination is expected to increase clearance of beta amyloid from the brain as well as reduce inflammation, which can result in vasogenic edema, a side-effect of immunotherapy in some patients that result from antibody-mediated dissolution of plaque. The CONJUMAB-A platform for which IN-N01-OX2 is the flagship molecule, is applicable to a broad range of diseases including: Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Huntington's, Age-Related Macular Degeneration, Glaucoma, Cerebral Angiopathy, Frontotemporal Dementia, Progressive Supranuclear Palsy, Pick's disease, Cortical Basal Degeneration and Peripheral Amyloidosis.
About Intellect Neurosciences, Inc.
Intellect Neurosciences, Inc. develops innovative approaches aimed at arresting or preventing Alzheimer's disease, and other neurodegenerative diseases especially focused on proteinopathies. Intellect's pipeline includes small neuroprotective molecules and neoepitope-based immunotherapy approaches including monoclonal antibodies and vaccines targeting beta amyloid and abnormal tau proteins. The company is currently developing three separate platform technologies: ANTISENILIN(R) is Intellect's Alzheimer's beta amyloid monoclonal antibody platform technology which underlies several products in advanced clinical development and is licensed to major pharmaceutical companies. The company's RECALL-VAX(TM) technology is a proprietary Alzheimer's vaccine with therapeutic and prophylactic potential. The company's CONJUMAB-A platform is based on antibody drug conjugates with potential applications to treat a broad spectrum of proteinopathies including Alzheimer's disease, Early-Onset Familial Alzheimer's disease, cerebral angiopathy, age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma and traumatic brain injury. IN-N01-OX2 is the company's most advanced internal candidate, a humanized monoclonal antibody targeting beta amyloid conjugated to a naturally occurring small drug molecule with potent neuroprotective properties. Thus, IN-N01-OX2, incorporates combined features of the ANTISENILIN and CONJUMAB-A platform technologies. The company recently licensed OX1 a small molecule multimodal antioxidant to ViroPharma, Inc. for Friedreich's Ataxia and other neurodegenerative diseases.
Safe Harbor Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements:
The statements in this release and oral statements made by representatives of Intellect relating to matters that are not historical facts (including, without limitation, those regarding future performance or financial results, the timing or potential outcomes of research collaborations or clinical trials, any market that might develop for any of Intellect's product candidates and the sufficiency of Intellect's cash and other capital resources) are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, the likelihood that actual performance or results could materially differ, that future research will prove successful, the likelihood that any product in the research pipeline will receive regulatory approval in the United States or abroad, or Intellect's ability to fund such efforts with or without partners. Intellect undertakes no obligation to update any of these statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as to the date hereof. Accordingly, any forward-looking statements should be read in conjunction with the additional risks and uncertainties detailed in Intellect's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including those factors discussed under the caption "Risk Factors" in Intellect's Annual Report on Form 10-K (file no. 333-128226), filed on October 13, 2011.
Contact:
Jules Abraham
JQA Partners, LLC
jabraham@jqapartners.com
+1-917-885-7378
SOURCE: Intellect Neurosciences, Inc.
Editor: PR Wire
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