99-240. Government-Owned Inventions; Availability for Licensing: Therapeutic Respiratory Syncytial Virus Monoclonal Antibodies  

  • [Federal Register Volume 64, Number 3 (Wednesday, January 6, 1999)]
    [Notices]
    [Pages 903-904]
    From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
    [FR Doc No: 99-240]
    
    
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    DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
    
    National Institutes of Health
    
    
    Government-Owned Inventions; Availability for Licensing: 
    Therapeutic Respiratory Syncytial Virus Monoclonal Antibodies
    
    AGENCY: National Institutes of Health, Public Health Service, DHHS.
    
    ACTION: Notice.
    
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    SUMMARY: Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) is the major cause of 
    serious viral lower respiratory tract illness in infants and children 
    worldwide. Research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has 
    resulted in the discovery of several different anti-RSV monoclonal 
    antibody (MAb) technologies important for the treatment of this 
    disease. Used separately or in combination, these technologies could 
    provide the basis for the commercial development of a new anti-RSV 
    therapeutic. The therapeutic technologies available for licensing 
    consist of a patented human MAb against RSV, a unpatented panel of 
    murine MAbs against RSV and patent applications relating to methods of 
    treating RSV infection utilizing more than one antibody. The human and 
    murine MAbs bind the F glycoprotein of RSV at different nonoverlapping 
    epitopes. A product combining the human MAb with a humanized version of 
    a least one of the murine antibodies may provide an improvement to 
    current single MAb therapies by reducing the likelihood of the 
    formation of RSB escape mutants.
    
    ADDRESSES: Questions about these licensing opportunities, copies of the 
    patent and/or patent applications should be addressed to Peter Soukas, 
    J.D., Technology Licensing Specialist, Office of Technology Transfer, 
    National Institutes of Health, 6011 Executive Boulevard, Suite 325, 
    Rockville, Maryland 20852-3804; Telephone: 301/496-7735 ext. 268; Fax: 
    301/402-0220; E-mail: ps193c@nih.gov. A signed Confidential Disclosure 
    Agreement will be required to receive copies of the patent application.
    
    SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The inventions listed below are owned by an 
    agency of the U.S. Government and are available for licensing in the 
    U.S. in accordance with 35 USC 207 and 37 CFR Part 404 to achieve 
    expeditious commercialization of results of federally-funded research 
    and development. Foreign patented applications are filed on selected 
    inventions to extend market coverage for companies and may also be 
    available for licensing.
    
    [[Page 904]]
    
    Human Neutralizing Monoclonal Antibodies to Respiratory Syncytial 
    Virus and Human Neutralizing Antibodies to Respiratory Syncytial 
    Virus
    
        Inventors: Robert Chanock, Dennis Burton, Carlos Barbas III, Brian 
    Murphy, and James Crowe Jr.
        Serial Number 08/162,102 filed 10 Dec 93 (with priority to 16 Sep 
    92) which issued as U.S. Patent Number 5,762,905 on 09 Jun 98 and 
    Serial Number 08/920,100 filed 26 Aug 97 (divisional of 08/162,102)
        This invention is a human monoclonal antibody fragment (Fab) 
    discovered utilizing phage display technology. It is described in Crowe 
    et al., P.N.A.S. 91:1386-1390 (1994) and Barbas et al., P.N.A.S. 
    89:10164-10168 (1992). This MAb binds an epitope on the RSV F 
    glycoprotein at amino acid 266 with an affinity of approximately 
    109 M-1. This MAb neutralized each of 10 subgroup 
    A and 9 subgroup B RSV strains with high efficiency. It was effective 
    in reducing the amount of RSV in lungs of RSV-infected cotton rats 24 
    hours after treatment, and successive treatments caused an even greater 
    reduction in the amount of RSV detected. The invention has been foreign 
    filed as PCT/US93/08786.
    
    Murine Monoclonal Antibodies Effective To Treat Respiratory 
    Syncytial Virus
    
        Inventors: Robert Chanock, Brian Murphy, Judy Beeler, and Kathleen 
    van Wyke Coelingh
        Available for licensing through a Biological Materials License 
    Agreement are the murine MAbs described in Beeler, J. A. et al. 
    ``Neutralization Epitopes of the F Glycoprotein of Respiratory 
    Syncytial Virus: Effect of Mutation Upon Fusion function,'' J. Virology 
    63:2941-2950 (1989). The MAbs that are available for licensing are the 
    following: 1129, 1153, 1142, 1200, 1214, 1237, 1121, 1112, 1269, and 
    1243. One of these MAbs, 1129, is the basis for a humanized murine MAb 
    (see U.S. Patent Number 5,824,307 to humanized 1129 owned by MedImmune, 
    Inc.), recently approved for marketing in the United States. MAbs in 
    the panel reported by Beeler, et al. have been shown to be effective 
    therapeutically when administered into the lungs of cotton rats by 
    small-particle aerosol. Among these MAbs several exhibited a high 
    affinity (approximately 10 \9\M- \1\) for the RSV F 
    glycoprotein and are directed at epitopes encompassing amino acid 262, 
    272, 275, 276 or 389. These epitopes are separate, nonoverlapping and 
    distinct from the epitope recognized by the human Fab of patent 
    5,762,905 (see above for description).
    
    Immunotherapeutic Method of Preventing or Treating Viral 
    Respiratory Tract Disease
    
        Inventors: Robert Chanock, Gregory Prince, James Young, Brian 
    Murphy, Val Hemming, Judy Beeler, Kathleen Coelingh Serial Number 08/
    479,797 filed 97 Jun 95 (CIP of combined applications 07/555,091 and 
    07/937,909)
        Rather than the use of a single monoclonal antibody to treat lower 
    respiratory infections, this invention contemplates the use of a 
    mixture of neutralizing, prophylactic and therapeutic monoclonal 
    antibodies each directed to a specific epitope on the surface of a 
    major viral protein (for example, the F glycoprotein of RSV) to treat 
    infections. Utilizing a mixture of antibodies significantly lessens the 
    possibility of escape mutants. This invention discloses an improved 
    method of treating or preventing lower respiratory tract viral diseases 
    through the administration of multiple neutralizing and therapeutic 
    antibodies in a small particle aerosol. Prior to this invention, there 
    has not been a convenient method of administration. Previously, small 
    children and infants have only been able to use this therapy when 
    incubated and attached to a ventilator. An aerosol nebulizer is 
    utilized in this invention. Furthermore, a prophylactic, neutralizing, 
    and therapeutic combination of various antiviral agents is also 
    described.
    
        Dated: December 28, 1998.
    Jack Spiegel,
    Director, Division of Technology Development and Transfer, Office of 
    Technology Transfer.
    [FR Doc. 99-240 Filed 1-5-99; 8:45 am]
    BILLING CODE 4140-01-M
    
    
    

Document Information

Published:
01/06/1999
Department:
National Institutes of Health
Entry Type:
Notice
Action:
Notice.
Document Number:
99-240
Pages:
903-904 (2 pages)
PDF File:
99-240.pdf