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news.The Vaccine and Gene Institute of Florida (VGTI Florida) has announced that the US Patent and Trademark Office awarded VGTI Florida scientists Dr. Rafick-Pierre Sékaly, PhD and Dr. Elias Haddad, PhD U.S. Patent No. 8,647,822 titled DETERMINING WHETHER A TEST COMPOUND MODULATES PD-1 ACTIVITY IN ACTIVATED IMMUNE CELLS USING GENE EXPRESSION PROFILES.
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The PD-1 pathway (programmed cell death) is being actively pursued by most of the big pharmaceutical companies due to its critical role as a checkpoint in our immune system’s response to cancer and chronic inflammation.
This therapeutic strategy is actively being evaluated in multiple clinical trials such as melanoma, non-small cell lung carcinoma, and HIV. Phase I trials are also under way for breast cancer, metastatic bladder cancer, and head and neck cancer.
"This patent represents a body of research that has been very useful to drug developers working on the PD-1 blockbuster pathway," said Dr. Sékaly. "Using gene expression profiles of cells allows drug developers to evaluate the cellular pathways that are operating in response to drug candidates."
Research on this pathway is continuing in Dr. Haddad’s laboratory. "Using the methods taught in this patent allows us to better understand the molecular response and the non-response to drug candidates from an individual patient manner," said Dr. Haddad.
"We have done a lot of analysis for pharmaceutical companies using this invention and now look forward to licensing this valuable technology," said Catherine E. Vorwald, MS, MBA, and Executive Director of Marketing & Business Development at VGTI Florida.
The patent, issued on February 11, 2014 was also awarded to the scientists’ co-inventors at the Massachusetts General Hospital. A Canadian Patent Application No. 2,742,926 remains in review.