CAMBRIDGE, MASS. and CARLSBAD, CA - Isis Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has allowed an Isis patent application that further expands the scope of the "Crooke" patent estate.
According to Isis, the newly allowed patent broadly covers methods of cleaving a target RNA via a double-stranded ribonuclease mechanism, including the RNAi mechanism, with chemically modified, single-stranded RNA-containing drugs.
Last year, Isis was awarded patents covering the compositions and methods of treating patients with a double-stranded or a single-stranded RNA-containing compounds, including double-stranded small interfering RNA (siRNA), which further strengthened Isis' broadly applicable Intellectual Property (IP) estate covering RNA-based drug discovery and development.
Isis' Crooke patent estate is a family of patents stemming from the innovative research of Stanley Crooke, M.D., Ph.D., and others at Isis to identify and design RNA molecules that utilize numerous different antisense mechanisms.
Issued patents in the Crooke estate already include US Patent No. 5,898,031 covering RNA-containing therapeutic compounds, and US Patent No. 6,107,094 covering methods of using these compounds to interfere with target RNA function, including not only interrupting protein production with single-stranded and double-stranded (siRNA) antisense compounds but also targeting other RNAs, such as microRNAs, addition to others.
These claims further strengthen Isis' broadly applicable IP estate covering RNA-based drug discovery, development, and therapeutic uses.
Following a Notice of Allowance, the process resulting in final issuance of a patent involves several administrative steps that are typically completed within a year.
Alnylam is a biopharmaceutical company developing novel therapeutics based on RNA interference, or RNAi.
Isis is exploiting its expertise in RNA to discover and develop novel drugs for its product pipeline and for its partners.
