Cistron Biotechnology Inc., Du Pont and the Du Pont MerckPharmaceutical Co. on Wednesday announced an agreementreturning all rights to interleukin-1 beta to Cistron.
IL-1 is an immune system regulator with potentialapplications in cancer and autoimmune diseases.
The agreement permits Cistron to seek other partners todevelop therapeutic IL-1 products. It replaces a 1985 contractbetween Du Pont and Cistron, which was subsequently assignedto Du Pont Merck.
Under the new contract, Du Pont Merck will grant to Cistron aroyalty-free license to Du Pont Merck's IL-1 patent rights.Those rights involve two patents covering the IL-1 betamolecule that were issued to the New England Medical Centerin August 1988. The patent rights were originally licensed toCistron (NASDAQ:CIST), which in turn sublicensed them to DuPont.
Du Pont will license IL-1 from Cistron of Pine Brook, N.J., forthe research market.
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