US Patent Office Approves iBio Patent Application

iBio

today announced that the U.S. Patent Office has allowed patent application 12/668,258 entitled "Yersinia Pestis Antigens, Vaccine Compositions and Related Methods." The claims cover plague antigens comprising Yersinia pestis F1 protein fused to the Company's thermostable iBioModulator™ protein, as well as vaccine compositions and a method for producing a protective immune response to the antigen. The invention was developed by scientists at the Fraunhofer USA Center for Molecular Biotechnology, iBio's research collaborator. Plague is a disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis and primarily infects animals, but can spread to humans through bites from infected fleas or contact with infected animals. It is also considered a potential bioterrorism weapon, and therefore a priority for effective vaccine development. There is no plague vaccine currently approved for use in the U.S. Although killed whole-cell plague vaccines have been reported to protect against bubonic plague in animal models, they were not effective against pneumonic plague. By contrast, data previously published in the peer-reviewed scientific journal, Vaccine, demonstrated that a recombinant plague vaccine incorporating the iBioModulator protein, and produced via the iBioLaunch™ platform in green plants, provided complete protection of non-human primates against pneumonic plague.