Absent extraordinary circumstances, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board “should never cancel claims it has not determined to be unpatentable as a sanction” for misconduct during a board proceeding, according to the acting director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
The U.K. Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has issued its first official guidance on how to develop bacteriophages as licensed medicinal products. This covers personalized phage therapies designed for specific patients – at present the only form in which they are available – but also is relevant to the development of off-the-shelf products for treating common infections.
Microneedle technology could help simplify vaccine delivery to better support global immunization efforts, and Australia is leading the way in this innovative technology.
Gilead Sciences Inc. has synthesized indoline compounds acting as DNA helicase-primase complex (human herpes simplex virus) and viral replication inhibitors reported to be useful for the treatment of herpes virus infection.
Immunoprecise Antibodies Ltd. has discovered a highly conserved epitope across all four dengue virus serotypes (DENV-1, DENV-2, DENV-3 and DENV-4) using its proprietary Lensai platform powered by its Hyft technology.
Human adenovirus may cause severe infections in both immunosuppressed and immunocompetent individuals and there is no specific approved therapy for it to date. The incidence may be about 50%-60% in immunocompromised subjects, with mortality rates around 80% in patients with disseminated infections.
Moderna Inc. once again emerged the winner in a court skirmish over claims that its COVID-19 vaccine infringed two Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. patents. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued a precedential opinion May 4, agreeing with a federal district court in Delaware that Moderna didn’t infringe the patents. For both courts, the decision was based on a single issue of claim construction.
Scientists at the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences have synthesized nonstructural protein 14 (NSP14) (coronavirus) inhibitors reported to be useful for the treatment of coronavirus acute respiratory syndrome.
A peptide with a dual mechanism of action – it dissolves the bacterial membrane and activates the immune system – could be an effective weapon against microorganisms that have evolved ways to evade antibiotics, as superbugs do. Scientists at the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) have designed stable synthetic peptides that activate mast cell receptors, which are cells involved in the innate and adaptive immune response. This dual approach eliminates bacteria and recruits neutrophils to finish the job.
The funding boost Moderna Inc. had expected via a roughly $590 million Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority award now looks to be off the table. The company disclosed May 28 that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said it will terminate the award for late-stage development and right to purchase pre-pandemic influenza vaccines.
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