Immunomedics Inc announced the issuance of U.S. patent 6,548,275, covering several of the Company's proprietary methods and compositions for the treatment of infectious diseases. These methods involve the conjugation of polyspecific antibodies with various therapeutic agents in order to allow selective targeting and delivery of the therapeutics to the site of infection. The therapeutic agents which can be attached to the infection-seeking antibodies include radioisotopes and toxic drugs. The pathogens that can be targeted using this proprietary technology involve all of the major classes of infectious agents, including bacteria such as streptococci, and anthrax; viruses such as HIV, herpes, cytomegalovirus, hepatitis, respiratory syncytial virus, etc.; fungi such as Candida; mycoplasma for example Mycoplasma pneumoniae and protozoa such as malaria.
Cynthia L. Sullivan, the Company's President and Chief executive Officer, noted "This new patent, and its previously-issued companion patent, 6,319,500, are very timely due to the increased concern raised by the threat of bioterrorism, involving many of the pathogens that are amenable to treatment by these new methods."
"We believe that, while there is still a great deal of work to be done, these technologies, invented by our scientists, will permit safe and effective treatment of many of the pathogens that we most fear. We also have six additional issued patents and still others being prosecuted in the area of infectious disease treatment, thus expanding our intellectual property into indications other than cancer by using our basic antibody platform technology," Sullivan commented further. She also stated "this broad portfolio now allows us to seek licensing partners for specific product development."