PharmaSeq Awarded U.S. Patent For Combinatorial Chemistry On Microchips
Monmouth Junction, NJ, June 18, 2002. PharmaSeq announced today that it has been issued a patent for identifying pharmaceutical drug leads using the Company’s light-powered micro-transponders. The patent entitled “Screening of drugs from combinatorial libraries employing transponders” (Patent No. 6,387,623) was issued on May 14, 2002, and is one of multiple PharmaSeq patents describing microtransponder-based tests for use in DNA diagnostics, genomics, proteomics, and drug discovery. The patent includes broad claims covering methods of employing combinatorial chemistry on PharmaSeq microtransponders. According to the patent issued, combinatorial synthesis is followed by compound screening in an assay using the PharmaSeq flow reader. This is the third U.S. patent awarded to PharmaSeq in 2002.
Dr. Wlodek Mandecki, the Company’s President said, “The patent protects PharmaSeq technology in the field of combinatorial chemistry. Thus, this patent award gives us an edge in the highly important field of pharmaceutical lead drug discovery and optimization, and will accelerate commercialization of PharmaSeq’s microtransponder technology.
“Strategic partners understand the importance of working with and licensing technology from biotech firms that have strong patent protection,” commented Richard Morris, PharmaSeq’s CEO. “Investments by Mitsui & Co. and by Dionex Corp. were influenced not only by the strength of our management team and platform technology, but also by our aggressive patenting strategy. While we continue to develop novel microtransponder-based, biomedical technologies we shall continue to protect them with both U.S. and international patents.”
PharmaSeq’s new system is composed of microtransponders, high-speed reading instruments and associated software. Biochemical tests based on these extremely small, light-powered microtransponders are also being developed. The ability of microtransponders to instantaneously identify the type of molecule on their surfaces, coupled with their small size and high-multiplex capabilities make them a very attractive alternative to existing biochemical assays and combinatorial chemistry screens. The patent can be viewed by going to the U.S. Patent Office web site, http://patents.uspto.gov.