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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Therion Biologics Issued Broad U.S.
Patents Covering
Fundamental AIDS Vaccine Technology
Cambridge, MA, July 14, 1997 - The United States
Patent and Trademark Office has issued Therion
Biologics Corporation two patents broadly
protecting the Company's recombinant viral vector
technologies for producing AIDS vaccines that
incorporate multiple human immunodeficiency virus
(HIV) proteins, the Company announced today. The
patents cover recombinant viral vectors that
express at least two proteins from HIV or related
viruses, and are capable of producing virus-like
particles resulting from the aggregation of the
expressed proteins.
"Research suggests that the pathway to an effective
preventive AIDS vaccine involves broadly arming the
immune system by presenting it with multiple HIV
proteins, or antigens," said Dennis Panicali,
Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of
Therion Biologics. "The newly issued patents cover
this multi-antigen approach using our recombinant
pox virus vector technology to generate and present
the HIV antigens in a natural form."
Dr. Panicali noted that Therion's first
multi-antigen preventive AIDS vaccine, TBC-3B, is
currently in Phase I clinical development in
collaboration with the National Institute of
Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). TBC-3B is
a live recombinant vaccinia virus expressing the
major structural and non-structural proteins of
HIV, including the matrix, core, nucleocapsid,
envelope, reverse transcriptase, integrase, and
protease antigens. Therion is actively developing
additional multi-antigen AIDS vaccines using its
recombinant pox virus vector technology.
The issued patents, U.S. patent numbers 5,614,404
and 5,631,154, cover recombinant viral vectors
expressing at least two different proteins from the
lentivirus family, which includes HIV and other
immunodeficiency viruses. The non-self-propagating
virus-like particles produced by aggregation of the
expressed proteins are also protected under the
patents. Both the recombinant vectors and the
HIV-like particles can be used as AIDS
vaccines.
To complement the vaccine strategies covered by the
issued patents, Therion is also investigating live
attenuated HIV vaccines. The Company is pursing
this technology in collaboration with its inventor,
Dr. Ronald Desrosiers, Professor of Microbiology
and Medical Genetics, Harvard Medical School and
Director, AIDS Unit, New England Regional Primate
Research Center. All of Therion's preventive AIDS
vaccines are being developed with the support of
the National Institutes of Health.
Therion is also applying its recombinant pox virus
vector technology to the development of therapeutic
vaccines for cancer immunotherapy. The Company is
currently conducting Phase I clinical trials of
products for the treatment of colorectal and lung
cancers, melanoma and prostate cancer.
Therion Biologics Corporation is engaged in the
development of immunotherapeutic products and
vaccines for the treatment of major cancers and the
prevention of AIDS. Therion is headquartered in
Cambridge, Massachusetts.
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Contacts:
Dennis L. Panicali, Ph.D.
President and CEO
Therion Biologics Corporation
(617) 876-7779
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Kelly Overly, Ph.D.
Manager
Feinstein Kean Healthcare Inc
(617) 577-8110
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