The allowed claims cover the use of veltuzumab and bispecific antibody protein constructs for the treatment and diagnosis of B-cell disorders, such as B-cell malignancies and autoimmune diseases. The patent also protects the subcutaneous formulation of veltuzumab, which the company recently licensed to Nycomed for all non-cancer indications.
Additionally, the company received another US patent that covers kits and methods of use of bispecific antibodies or fragments comprising the humanized 679 antibody, the company’s proprietary antibody that binds to the histamine-succinyl-glycine hapten-peptide.
Cynthia Sullivan, president and CEO of Immunomedics, said: “We believe the new patent substantially strengthens our intellectual property portfolio relating to anti-CD20 antibodies by protecting chimeric, humanized or human monoclonal antibodies comprising the veltuzumab complementarity-determining region sequences, fusion proteins that incorporate such antibodies, and DNA sequences, vectors, or transfected cells encoding the expression of such antibodies.”