[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 34 (Friday, February 20, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Page 8652]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-4236]
[[Page 8652]]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
National Institutes of Health
Government-Owned Inventions; Availability for Licensing
AGENCY: National Institutes of Health.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The inventions listed below are owned by agencies of the U.S.
Government and are available for licensing in the U.S. in accordance
with 35 U.S.C. 207 to achieve expeditious commercialization of results
of federally-funded research and development. Foreign patent
applications are filed on selected inventions to extend market coverage
for companies and may also be available for licensing.
ADDRESSES: Licensing infromaiton and copies of the U.S. patent
applications listed below may be obtained by writing to the indicated
licensing contact at the Office of Technology Transfer, National
Institutes of Health, 6011 Executive Boulevard, Suite 325, Rockville,
Maryland 20852-3804; telephone: 301/496-7057; fax 301/402-0220. A
signed Confidential Disclosure Agreement will be required to receive
copies of the patent applications.
Aspirin Metabolites As Protectors Against Oxidative Stress And
Chemotherapy Drug Toxicity
JB Mitchell, A Russo, CM Krishna, W DeGraff, AM DeLuca, L Myers, SM
Hahn (NCI)
Serial No. 60/039,375 filed 20 Mar 97
Licensing Contact: Leopold J. Luberecki, Jr., 301/496-7735 ext. 223
Although oxygen is required to sustain most life forms, a variety
of toxic oxygen-related species, such as hydroxyl radicals, hydrogen
peroxide, and superoxide, are produced, which could damage cells if
left unchecked. Cells usually possess systems which rid themselves of
these by-products, yet there is a small amount of these substances
which escapes the biochemical defense network. It is not known whether
chronic exposure to low levels of oxygen-derived free radical species
is deleterious. It is postulated that the aging process may be a
manifestation of the organism's inability to cope with sustained
oxidative stress. In addition, some cancer treatment modalities exert
their cytotoxicity via production of free radicals. This invention
describes methods of using a composition made of a hydroxybenzoate
metabolite, a hydroxybenzoate analogue, or a mixture thereof, in the
preventative and therapeutic treatment for oxidative stress. The use of
the compounds to treat oxidative stress is superior to aspirin itself
for reasons including avoidance of gastric and duodenal ulcers and
platelet function disorders, and the ability to realize high
concentrations of specific metabolities or analogues, which cannot be
achieved using aspirin. In addition, compositions may be used to
protect biological material from the cytotoxic effects of cancer
chemotherapeutic agents, including adriamycin, one of the most widely
used chemotherapeutic agents. As an example, the effectiveness of
adriamycin is limited by the resulting bone marrow suppression,
gastorintestional damage, and cumulative cardiotoxicity caused by the
treatment. The compositions of this invention could act as anti-
cytotoxic agents. The compositions also could be used to treat
extravasation tissue injury. Extravasation occurs when a hypodermic
injection, such as an injection of a chemotherapeutic agent, misses the
vein, as frequently occurs in older persons, thereby causing release of
a high localized concentration of the agent into the surrounding
tissue, which results in cellular damage and a disfiguring ulceration.
A composition as described in this invention could be rapidly injected
at the site of the missed injection to alleviate or prevent this
damage.
Trophic and Cell Differentiating Effects of Glucagon-Like Peptite (GLP-
1) and Exedin-4
J Egan, R Perfetti, A Passaniti, N Greg, H Holloway (NIA)
DHHS Reference No. E-251-97/0
Licensing Contact: Charles M. Maynard, 301/496-7735 ext. 243
GLP-1 is a hormone produced and predominantly found in the
mammalian gut. GLP-1 has been found to stimulate insulin production and
suppress glucagon production in response to increases in serum glucose
levels caused by a variety of events, such as ingestion of a mixed
meal. Consequently, it has generated a considerable amount of
investigation as a potentially useful therapeutic agent in the
treatment of diabetes. Clinical trials of administration of synthetic
GLP-1 have shown a reduction of the need for insulin injection in
patients with diabetes, both type I and type II. GLP-1 also has the
distinct advantage over traditional treatment of these conditions, in
that the insulinotropic effect of GLP-1 is dependent on serum glucose
concentration, resulting in the fact that in vivo administration of
significant amounts of GLP-1 appears not to trigger hyperinsulinemia.
Unfortunately, GLP-1 has an effective pharmaceutical half-life in the
realm of five minutes, requiring repeated dosing.
Exedin-4 is an abstract from the venom of the Gila monster, about
50% structurally related to GLP-1, which was found to be a potent
agonist of GLP-1, and which also was found to increase insulin
production when administered by itself. Exedin-4 also has the advantage
of a significantly longer effective duration, on the order of ten
hours. Research, therefore, has focused on finding combinations of GLP-
1 and exedin-4 that are likely to provide the longest effect, as well
as on the mechanisms through which they mediate insulin production.
Oncoimmunins
B Packard, A Komoriya (FDA)
U.S. Patent 5,364,619 issued 15 Nov 94 and U.S. Patent 5,635,356
issued 3 Jun 97
Licensing Contact: Jaconda Wagner, 301/496-7735 ext. 284
Two tumor-derived soluble proteins named oncoimmunin-L and
oncoimmunin-M have been isolated and partially characterized.
Oncoimmunin-L is a T-cell mitogen and oncoimmunin-M is a myeloid
differentiation inducing agent. The partial characterization of these
two factors has shown that they are similar to human leukocyte elastase
inhibitor and human lactate dehyrodrogenase M, respectively. As cells
of both lymphoid and myeloid origin are known to play roles in immune
defense, factors which can modulate their number and/or function may be
useful in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. Since these factors
are derived from tumors, their appearance in blood may signal the
presence of tumor or of metastatic disease. The in vivo bioactivities
of these factors suggests their utility as therapeutic agents for
cancer and infectious diseases.
This research has been published in Biochim Biophys Acta 1995 Oct
19; 1269(1): 41-50.
Dated: February 11, 1998.
Barbara M. McGarey,
Deputy Director, Office of Technology Transfer.
[FR Doc. 98-4236 Filed 2-19-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4140-01-M
