AltaRex Corp. has obtained an exclusive worldwide license for a family of four U.S issued patents and foreign counterparts from the Alberta Research Council, Inc. (ARC) in Edmonton, Alberta.
These additions to the Company’s intellectual property portfolio provide AltaRex with a strong foundation for developing novel treatments in the area of autoimmune/inflammatory disease, such as multiple sclerosis, Crohn’s disease, and allergy/asthma.
The Company’s current proprietary technology applies to a number of disease areas (cancer, infectious disease and autoimmune/inflammatory disease), with current clinical development focused on cancer.
“We believe that we have a broad technology platform, and anticipate generating near term return from our antibodies to treat cancer.
We are prudently extending our intellectual property now, with a future focus on promising and synergistic therapeutic areas,” commented Richard E. Bagley, President and CEO of AltaRex Corp.
The family of U.S. issued patents obtained by AltaRex from the ARC includes three method patents titled ‘Anti Inflammatory Tolerogenic and Immunoinhibiting Properties of Carbohydrate Binding Peptides’ and one composition patent titled ‘Lectin Derived Carbohydrate Binding Peptides’. These patents are relevant to the Company’s established proprietary expertise in the use of binding agents, specifically antibodies, to alter patients’ immune system responses in a therapeutically beneficial manner.
The Alberta Research Council develops and commercialises technologies to give customers a competitive advantage.
The corporation performs applied research and development on a contract or fee basis, and co-ventures with others to develop new technologies, deriving a return on investment from the commercialisation of new products and processes.
ARC also conducts applied research projects for the public good and to support provincial science and technology needs and strategies.
AltaRex Corp. is primarily focused on the research, development and commercialisation of antigen-targeted antibody-based cancer therapies, utilizing monoclonal antibodies as immunotherapeutic agents for the treatment of certain late-stage cancers.