immatics biotechnologies GmbH has obtained European patent protection for the composition of matter for its drug candidate IMA901. Patent no EP1760089 will protect the set of the peptides that form the core of the pharmaceutical compositions of IMA901. The company's lead product is in phase-II trials in renal cancer patients. Patent EP1794190 will cover an additional MHC-Class II peptide. Both patents add to the broad IP portfolio of immatics.

Further expanding its patent portfolio covering other products, immatics has been granted US patent 7,528,224 covering a peptide encoded by the MUC-1 gene; this peptide is able to elicit an immune response against tumours overexpressing MUC-1. immatics has already obtained patent protection for this peptide in Europe.

"The first TUMAP patent owned by immatics was granted in 2004 and patent protection for peptide sequences has remained unchallenged in all major pharma markets including North America, EU, and Japan. Our IP position is therefore very strong," said Niels Emmerich, managing director and COO of immatics. "We will continue to expand our patent portfolio by filing patents for individual TUMAPs, our peptide-based products and our technologies in all major countries and pharma markets."

IMA901IMA901 is an off-the-shelf cancer vaccines consisting of multiple fully synthetic tumour-associated peptides (TUMAPs), representing tumour antigens relevant for renal cell carcinoma.