Introgen Therapeutics Inc. has been awarded a patent by the US Patent and Trademark Office which covers administration of chemotherapeutic drugs, radiation therapies, or other agents that have a damaging effect on the DNA of cancer cells, to a cancer patient, followed by administration of a desired therapeutic gene, such as one or more of Introgen's molecular therapies.

While useful for cancer treatments, the patent claims are not limited to oncology use and may have utility in other diseases. The patent is one of numerous patents, pending or issued, that Introgen has licensed exclusively from the Board of Regents of The University of Texas System which cover its therapies, claims the company release.

This patent is based on the finding that the potency of any gene based product, including Introgen's current product candidates, may be increased by pre-treatment of cancer cells with chemotherapy or other DNA damaging agents. In particular Introgen has found that when cancer cells are pre-treated with chemotherapy agents designed to cause DNA damage, followed by administration of a vector encoding a tumour suppressor gene, such as ADVEXIN or INGN 241, the result is an increase in expression of the selected tumour suppressor gene. This effect is observed in cancer cells when the selected chemotherapy is designed to damage DNA.

"Because this patent is applicable to any gene based therapy and not limited to Introgen's proprietary pipeline, it further solidifies and expands Introgen's leading position with its own combination therapy. Thus, this is an important patent to any company interested in commercially pursuing such combination therapies," said David L. Parker, vice president of Intellectual Property for Introgen.

"This patent further validates Introgen's intellectual property strategy, which is to patent technology that is clinically useful, can be broadly applied to a variety of products and predicts new, less toxic ways to treat cancer, particularly in therapies that may lessen the side effects of currently available treatments," added Parker.

Introgen holds a licensing agreement with M. D. Anderson to commercialise products based on licensed technologies, and has the option to license future technologies under sponsored research agreements.

Introgen Therapeutics Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialisation of targeted molecular therapies for the treatment of cancer and other diseases.