[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 222 (Tuesday, November 18, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 61519-61520]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-30202]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

National Institutes of Health


Prospective Grant of Exclusive License: Immunodampening 
Technology

AGENCY: National Institutes of Health, Public Health Service, DHHS.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: This is notice in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 209(c)(1) and 37 
CFR 404.7(a)(1)(i) that the National Institutes of Health (NIH), 
Department of Health and Human Services, ins contemplating the grant of 
an exclusive world-wide license to practice the invention embodied in 
U.S. Patent Number 5,585,250 and pending U.S. Patent Application Serial 
No. 08/764.575 both entitled ``Dampening of an Immunodominant Epitope 
of an Antigen for Use in Plant, Animal and Human Compositions and 
Immunotherapies'' and related foreign patent applications to Biological 
Memetics, Inc., of Frederick, Maryland. The patent rights in this 
invention have been assigned to the United States of America.
    It is anticipated that this license will be limited to the field of 
vaccines for the treatment and prevention of infectious diseases in 
animals and humans.

DATES: Only written comments and/or applications for a license which 
are received by NIH on or before February 17, 1998 will be considered.

ADDRESSES: Requests for a copy of the patent and/or patent application, 
inquires, comments and other materials relating to the contemplated 
license should be directed to: Robert Benson, Patent Advisor, Office of 
Technology Transfer, National Institutes of Health, 6011 Executive 
Blvd., Suite 325, Rockville, MD 20852-3804; Telephone: (301) 496-7056, 
x267; Facsimile: (301) 402-0220.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The patent and pending patent application 
describe a broadly applicable method of redirecting the immune response 
to an antigen from an immunodominant epitope to another epitope by 
altering the immunogenicity of the immunodominant epitope. The method 
is most useful for those pathogens with a highly variable 
immunodominant epitope, such as HIV, HCV or gonorrhea.

[[Page 61520]]

By immunodampening the dominant epitope the immune system then reacts 
to other more conserved epitopes.
    The prospective exclusive license will be royalty-bearing and will 
comply with the terms and conditions of 35 U.S.C. 209 and 37 CFR 404.7. 
This prospective exclusive license may be granted unless within 90 days 
from the date of this published notice, NIH receives written evidence 
and argument that established that the grant of the license would not 
be consistent with the requirements of 35 U.S.C. 209 and 37 CFR 404.7.
    Applications for a license filed in response to this notice will be 
treated as objections to the grant of the contempleted license. 
Comments and objections submitted to this notice will not be made 
available for public inspection and, to the extent permitted by law, 
will not be released under the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. 
Sec. 552.

    Dated: November 5, 1997.
Barbara M. McGarey,
Deputy Director, Office of Technology Transfer.
[FR Doc. 97-30202 Filed 11-17-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4140-01-M