Medigene's Dentritic Cell Vaccines Program Strengthened by Issued US Patent
Martinsried/Munich, 26 March 2014. Biotechnology company, Medigene AG (MDG1, Frankfurt, Prime Standard) announces that the US Patent Office has issued patent No. 8,679,840 "Composition for the preparation of mature dendritic cells", relating to the manufacturing of mature dendritic cells developed by Medigene`s wholly owned subsidiary Trianta Immunotherapies. The patent has a term until 2027 and is licensed exclusively to Trianta by the Helmholtz Zentrum München.
Dr. Frank Mathias, CEO of Medigene AG: "This new patent further confirms our decision to acquire Trianta and acknowledges the innovativeness of the technologies developed by Prof. Dolores Schendel and her team. The patent protects our unique process to generate polarised dendritic cells, currently developed by Trianta for cancer immunotherapy, and thus represent a major asset in our patent portfolio."
About DC vaccines (Clinical stage, suited for treatment of minimal residual disease or use in combination therapies): Trianta has established a dendritic cell product platform that allows the design of next generation dendritic cell vaccines. Dendritic cells can take up antigens efficiently, process them and present them on their surface in a form that can induce T cells to divide and mature. Dendritic cells can also induce natural killer cells to become active and attack tumour cells. Trianta has established new, fast and efficient methods for preparation of autologous (patient-specific) mature dendritic cells that have relevant characteristics to activate both T cells and natural killer cells. They are developed to carry multiple tumour antigens to treat various types of cancer.
Trianta`s DC vaccines are currently being evaluated in two ongoing investigator-initiated trials: a clinical phase I/II trial in acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) at the Ludwig-Maximilians University Hospital Großhadern, Munich, and a clinical phase II trial in prostate cancer at the Oslo University Hospital. Previous clinical compassionate use studies with Trianta`s DC-vaccines have already provided encouraging data for safety and clinical benefits in several tumour types.
About Trianta: Trianta Immunotherapies GmbH, a wholly owned subsidiary of Medigene AG, is at the forefront of personalized T cell immunotherapy, focussing on next generation antigen-tailored dendritic cell (DC) vaccines, T cell receptor (TCR)-based adoptive cell therapy and T cell-targeted antibodies (TABs). Trianta Immunotherapies was founded late 2013 as a spin-off of the Helmholtz Zentrum München, the German Research Centre for Environmental Health. Trianta exploits the therapeutic and commercial potential of T cell-focused therapies developed by the team of Prof. Dolores J. Schendel at the Helmholtz Zentrum Munich, in collaboration with Prof. Thomas Blankenstein at the Max Delbrück Centre for Molecular Medicine, Berlin. The team of Trianta pursues three complementary immunotherapeutic strategies to target various tumour types and stages. Each one is focused on T cells, a type of white blood cell that plays a pivotal role in immunity. Trianta Immunotherapies was acquired by Medigene in January 2014.
Medigene AG is a publicly listed (Frankfurt: MDG1, prime standard) biotechnology company headquartered in Martinsried near Munich, Germany. Medigene concentrates on clinical research and development of novel drugs against cancer and autoimmune diseases and, following the acquisition of Trianta Immunotherapies GmbH, focuses on personalized T cell immunotherapies. Medigene is the first German biotech company to have revenues from a marketed product, which is distributed by commercial partners companies. Medigene has various drug candidates in clinical development and it is developing highly innovative treatment platforms. Medigene`s wholly-owned subsidiary, Trianta, is developing next generation antigen-tailored dendritic cell (DC) vaccines, T cell receptor (TCR)-based adoptive cell therapy and T cell-targeted antibodies (TABs). For more information, please visit www.medigene.com.
This press release contains forward-looking statements representing the opinion of Medigene as of the date of this release. The actual results achieved by Medigene may differ significantly from the forward-looking statements made herein. Medigene is not bound to update any of these forward-looking statements. Medigene® EndoTAG® and Veregen®are registered trademarks of Medigene AG. Polyphenon E® is a trademark of Mitsui Norin Co., Ltd. These trademarks may be owned or licensed in select locations only.
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Source: Medigene AG via GlobeNewswire
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