Norwood Immunology granted six patents

Melbourne immune therapy developer Norwood Immunology (AIM:NIL) has been granted six patents in New Zealand, South Africa and Singapore relating to its technology in key areas such as cancer and infectious diseases.

Norwood's technology is based on the use of FDA approved GnRH (gonadotropin releasing hormone) analogue drugs to suppress the production of sex-hormones that cause the thymus to atrophy. This causes the organ to regrow and resume production of new T-cells, enabling patients to better respond to disease.

Norwood's US licence partner, TAP Pharmaceutical Products, markets the GnRH analogue Lupron.

"These patents all revolve around the principle that Lupron stimulates growth of the thymus and therefore increases its output -- in particular the output of naive T cells," said Norwood Immunology chief operating officer Suzanne Lipe. "The patents specifically identify a number of significant applications like cancer and infectious diseases."

The New Zealand Patent Office granted a patent entitled "Stimulation of thymus for vaccination development" and the South African Patent Office granted a related patent which encompass the use of pharmaceuticals such as Lupron to enhance a vaccine response. The vaccine may be directed towards cancer or an infectious disease such as herpes.

The South African Patent Office also granted two other patents entitled "Disease prevention by reactivation of the thymus" and "Hematopoietic stem cell gene therapy".

The first of these patents relates to the use of a compound such as Lupron to prevent infectious diseases. This is particularly relevant for patients that are highly susceptible to infection because other treatments (such as chemo or radio therapy) have compromised their immune system. The patent also relates to the use Lupron-like compounds for enhancing bone marrow function.

The second South African patent relates to the use of pharmaceuticals such as Lupron to treat or prevent diseases such as AIDS through the use of genetically modified cells.

The New Zealand Patent Office has granted another patent entitled "Improvement of graft acceptance through manipulation of thymus regeneration" and a related patent has been granted by the Singapore Patent Office.

The claims in these patents relate to the reduction of tissue and organ transplant rejection through administration of immune cells and a pharmaceutical such as Lupron.

These patents tie in with a collaboration agreement recently signed by Norwood with the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston to conduct a proof-of-concept preclinical trial in organ transplantation, to establish whether Lupron can improve graft acceptance and remove the need for immunosuppressant drugs.