Elan Corporation plc and Wyeth Pharmaceuticals have announced the United States Patent and Trademark Office recently issued Neuralab Limited, a subsidiary of Elan, seven patents for the companies' joint research on immunotherapeutic approaches to the prevention and treatment of Alzheimer's disease.

According to a release, six of the patents, all entitled "Prevention and treatment of amyloidogenic disease," are directed to the companies' active immunization approaches for treatment of Alzheimer's disease.

US Patent Numbers 6,787,140 and 6,787,523 claim methods of prophylactically or therapeutically treating a disease characterized by a beta amyloid deposit in a patient by administering a beta amyloid peptide.
US Patent Numbers 6,787,139, 6,787,138; 6,787,143 and 6,787,144 claim compositions comprising a beta amyloid fragment, as well as methods using those compositions to prophylactically or therapeutically treat a disease characterized by a beta amyloid deposit in a patient.

The seventh patent is directed to the companies' passive immunization approach. US Patent Number 6,787,637, entitled "N-terminal amyloid-beta antibodies," claims pharmaceutical compositions comprising an antibody that specifically binds to a region within the beta amyloid. This patent is in addition to the previously issued US Patent Numbers 6,750,324, 6,743,427 and 6,761,888 relating to passive immunization.

Elan and Wyeth, solely or jointly, are the owners or exclusive licensees of more than fifty US patents and/or patent applications along with corresponding foreign patents supporting their Alzheimer's disease immunotherapy approach, the release says.

"As we continue to advance our understanding of Alzheimer's disease, it is increasingly important that we examine multiple approaches towards targeting the different parts of the disease. These new patents underscore this commitment and further our goal of developing treatments for this devastating disease," said Lars Ekman, executive vice president and president, Research and Development, Elan.

"Elan and Wyeth maintain a strong commitment to leading edge immunotherapy research. These new patents are important additions to the Alliance's already strong patent portfolio," said Robert R. Ruffolo, Jr., president, Wyeth Research and senior vice president, Wyeth.

In 2000, Elan and Wyeth formed a collaboration to discover, develop and commercialize immunotherapeutic approaches to prevent and treat Alzheimer's disease. The companies are currently pursuing beta amyloid immunotherapy for mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease in a phase I safety study of a humanized monoclonal antibody, AAB-001. Elan and Wyeth are also developing ACC-001, a novel beta amyloid-related active immunization approach that is in the late preclinical discovery phase.