Autoimmune Intellectual Property Position Strengthened by Addition of Patent
For Psoriasis to Those for Multiple Sclerosis and Rheumatoid Arthritis
CARLSBAD, Calif., July 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --
The Immune Response Corporation (Nasdaq: IMNR) announced it was recently
granted United States Patent Number 6,413,516 entitled "Peptides and Methods
Against Psoriasis." The new patent includes composition and methods claims.
The vaccine may suppress the activity of specific T cells that are thought to
play a role in the development of psoriasis.
"This U.S. patent for our psoriasis TCR peptide vaccine strengthens our
worldwide intellectual property position in therapeutic vaccines for
autoimmune diseases," said Dr. Dennis J. Carlo, president and chief executive
officer of The Immune Response Corporation. "With the addition of this
psoriasis patent, we now have coverage in the major world markets for our TCR
peptide vaccine technology for all three of our autoimmune disease targets:
rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and now psoriasis."
Approximately 7 million people in the U.S. and 80 million people worldwide
suffer from psoriasis, a chronic and often times painful skin disease
characterized by scaling and inflammation. The disease occurs after defects
in the immune system allow stimulation of specific T cells in the skin that
trigger various reactions that culminate in rapid over-production of skin
cells, creating inflammation and the flaking characteristic of psoriasis
lesions.
"Many autoimmune diseases, including psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis and
multiple sclerosis, are initiated in part by proliferation of auto-reactive
pathogenic T cells that incorrectly identify the body's own cells as foreign
and seek to destroy them," said Dr. Richard Bartholomew, executive director of
research operations of The Immune Response Corporation. "Our TCR peptide
vaccines target these pathogenic T cells to interrupt the chain of events in
the immune response that leads to diseases such as psoriasis."
Co-founded by medical pioneer Dr. Jonas Salk and based in Carlsbad,
Calif., The Immune Response Corporation is a biopharmaceutical company
developing immune-based therapies designed to treat HIV, autoimmune diseases
and cancer. The Company also develops and holds patents on several
technologies that can be applied to genes in order to increase gene expression
or effectiveness, making it useful in a wide range of therapeutic applications
for a variety of disorders. Company information is available at
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 the Company will successfully raise
proceeds from financing activities sufficient to fund additional trials and
development of ZORCELL(TM), the Company's psoriasis product candidate, whether
clinical trials of ZORCELL(TM) will be successfully concluded, whether
ZORCELL(TM) will be approved for marketing or be successfully commercialized
and whether any issued patents or any patents issued in the future will
survive opposition or litigation or provide meaningful proprietary protection.
These and other factors are discussed more thoroughly in The Immune Response
Corporation's SEC filings, including but not limited to its report on
Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2001 and report on Form 10-Q for the
quarter ended March 31, 2002. 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.
SOURCE The Immune Response Corporation
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Related links:
http://www.imnr.com
Company News On-Call:
http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/434675.html
CONTACT:
Media, James Lee of The Lee Strategy Group,
+1-310-229-5771, fax +1-310-229-5772, jlee@leestrategy.com, for
The Immune Response Corporation; or Investors, Kathy Lane of The
Immune Response Corporation, +1-760-771-2236, fax
+1-760-771-2140, info@imnr.com
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