CARLSBAD, Calif., April 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --
The Immune Response Corporation (Nasdaq: IMNR) announced today that it
received notification from the European Patent Office confirming that the
appeal proceedings relating to its T cell receptor peptide technology are
closed. According to the notification, AstraZeneca and T Cell Sciences have
unconditionally withdrawn their opposition to the Company's European Patent
No. 0463101 entitled Vaccination Against Diseases Resulting From Pathogenic
Responses By Specific T-Cell Populations. The Company's patent counsel has
advised the Company that as a result of these events, the appeal procedure
will be terminated and the decision of February 5, 1999 (by the European
Patent Office) to uphold the Company's patent with all its original claims is
final.
"We have been steadfast in our determination to protect the broad based
intellectual property position of our T cell receptor peptide based
therapeutic vaccine technology," said Dennis J. Carlo, Ph.D., the Company's
President and Chief Executive Officer. "This favorable judgement to close a
major opposition against our core technology further strengthens our patent
estate and places us in a much stronger position. We can now offer potential
corporate partners significant protected rights using our T cell receptor
peptide technology for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RAVAX(TM)),
psoriasis (ZORCELL(TM)) and multiple sclerosis (NeuroVax(TM))."
The Immune Response Corporation is a biopharmaceutical company based in
Carlsbad, California, developing immune-based therapies to induce specific
T-cell responses for the treatment of HIV, autoimmune diseases and cancer. In
addition, the Company is developing a targeted non-viral delivery technology
for gene therapy, which is designed to enable the delivery of genes directly
to the liver via intravenous injection. [NOTE: Company information can also
be located on the Internet Web site: http://www.imnr.com ]
This news release contains forward-looking statements. Actual results
could vary materially from those expected due to a variety of risk factors,
including, but not limited to, whether clinical trials will be successfully
conducted and whether T cell receptor peptide based therapeutic vaccines will
be approved for marketing or be successfully commercialized. Those factors
are discussed more thoroughly in The Immune Response Corporation's SEC
filings, including but not limited to its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the
year ended December 31, 2001 and subsequent Forms 10-Q. The Company
undertakes no obligation to publicly release the result of any revisions to
these forward-looking statements, which may be made to reflect events or
circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of
unanticipated events.
RAVAX(TM), ZORCELL(TM) and NeuroVax(TM) are registered trademarks of The
Immune Response Corporation.
SOURCE The Immune Response Corporation
 back to top
Related links:
http://www.imnr.com
Company News On-Call:
http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/434675.html
CONTACT:
Investors, Kathy Lane of The Immune Response
Corporation, +1-760-771-2236
|
