Miraculins Inc., a medical diagnostic company focused on developing and commercializing diagnostic tests for unmet clinical needs, has announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has issued US Patent 7,754,495 entitled “Methods for Early Diagnosing of an Increased Risk of Preeclampsia”. The issued patent is a valuable addition to Miraculins’ portfolio of issued and pending patents protecting markers in its preeclampsia programme, including Endoglin, the lead marker in the programme. Miraculins’ preeclampsia programme is being advanced in partnership with the Biosite division of Inverness Medical Innovations.
The issued patent is based on the world-leading research of Dr Isabella Caniggia of the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute of Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto. Miraculins has a world-wide license with Mount Sinai Hospital for the rights to the patent families of Dr Caniggia, which cover a suite of 35 novel biomarkers involved in the development of the placenta and the biology implicated in the development of preeclampsia, a debilitating and potentially fatal complication of pregnancy.
Preeclampsia affects three million mothers worldwide annually and is associated with premature births and infant illness including cerebral palsy, blindness, epilepsy, deafness and lung conditions. There is no effective detection method for the risk of preeclampsia and the cause is unknown. It is estimated that preeclampsia costs the global health care system US$3 billion per year.
"Today's patent issuance provides important protection for the potential products we are developing with our partners at Inverness,” stated Christopher J Moreau, president and CEO of Miraculins Inc. “We see this and previous patent issuances in this patent family as a recognition of the novelty of Dr Caniggia’s research and continue to be energized by the opportunity to create a product that will bring needed help to mothers and babies.”
The Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute of Mount Sinai Hospital, a University of Toronto affiliated research centre established in 1985, is one of the world's premier centres in biomedical research. Thirty-four principal investigators lead research in diabetes, cancer biology, epidemiology, stem cell research, women's and infants' health, neurobiology and systems biology.