Demegen Inc, a biotechnology company specializing in the development of peptides for the treatment of infectious diseases, announced it had received United States patent 6,514,692 for a method of treating immunodeficiency virus infection.

The primary claim of the patent is a method of reducing cell-to-cell transmission of an immunodeficiency virus (including HIV and FIV) comprising administering to an animal infected with an immunodeficiency virus an amount of a lytic peptide that is lethal neither to the virus nor to virus-infected cells, but that renders viral particles produced by the infected animal non-infectious.

Demegen is seeking a license partner to assist with the development of a drug to treat HIV. The peptides described in this patent are protected by composition of matters claims allowed in previous Demegen patents.