• Lorus Therapeutics Inc., of Toronto, said its NuChem Pharmaceuticals Inc. subsidiary received from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office an allowance for a patent protecting intellectual property involving the mechanism of action for its lead anticancer drug, NC381. Titled "Substituted 11-phenyl-dibenzazepine Compounds Useful for the Treatment or Prevention of Diseases Characterized by Cell Proliferation," the patent protects the small molecule as a therapeutic agent to treat lung, pancreatic and skin cancers, and as an inhibitor of prostate tumor growth. Lorus also received the allowance of a patent that protects intellectual property for its lead anticancer drug, Virulizin. It is in a Phase III trial in the U.S. to treat advanced pancreatic cancer and has received approval in Mexico to treat malignant melanoma.

• Medicure Inc., of Winnepeg, Manitoba, received U.S. Patent No. 6,417,204 to protect the composition of several of its newly discovered therapeutics. The patent includes a library of small-molecule therapeutic candidates, antithrombotics, which prevent blood factors from aggregating and subsequently blocking flow.

• Mologen Holding AG, of Berlin, was granted U.S. Patent No. 6,451,593 B1 titled, "Design Principle for Construction of Expression Constructs for Gene Therapy." It protects the design of Mologen's MIDGE (minimalistic immunogenically defined gene expression) gene vectors.

• Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Tarrytown, N.Y., received U.S. Patent No. 6,472,179 directed to the novel design and production of its cytokine antagonists - Cytokine Traps. Regeneron said it is the third U.S. patent issued covering Cytokine Traps, which it is developing as potential protein therapeutic for conditions including rheumatoid arthritis and asthma. It also was granted U.S. Patent No. 6,472,178 covering an isolated nucleic acid molecule that encodes Axokine, an expression vector containing the molecule and methods of its production. Axokine, Regeneron's most advanced therapeutic candidate, is being evaluated in a Phase III obesity program.