[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 236 (Tuesday, December 9, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Page 64855]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-32088]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

National Institutes of Health


Prospective Grant of Exclusive License: Therapeutic Uses of Blood 
Vessel Growth Promoting Peptides Including Vascular Endothelial Growth 
Factor (VEGF) and Basic Fibroblast Growth Factor (FGF) for 
Cardiovascular Disease and Conditions Such as Myocardial Ischemia

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, is contemplating the grant of 
a domestic exclusive license to practice the inventions embodied in the 
patent referred to below to Collateral Therapeutics of San Diego, 
California. The patent rights in these inventions have been assigned to 
the government of the United States of America. The patent to be 
licensed is: ``Method To Foster Myocardial Blood Vessel Growth And 
Improve Blood Flow To The Heart'', U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 
07/799,830 filed November 27, 1991, which issued as U.S. Patent No. 
5,244,460 on September 14, 1993.

DATES: Only written comments and/or applications for a license which 
are received by NIH on or before February 9, 1998 will be considered.

ADDRESSES: Requests for a copy of this patent, inquiries, comments, and 
other materials relating to the contemplated license should be directed 
to: J. Peter Kim, Technology Licensing Specialist, Office of Technology 
Transfer, National Institutes of Health, 6011 Executive Boulevard, 
Suite 325, Rockville, Maryland 20852-3804; Telephone: (301) 496-7056, 
ext. 264; Facsimile: (301) 402-0220.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The present invention relates to 
improvements in the treatment of diseases, and more particularly to 
procedures and compositions used to foster myocardial blood vessel 
growth and improve blood flow to the heart. The present invention 
provides a method for facilitating in a damaged heart or a heart in 
need of improved circulation the growth of cardiac blood vessels while 
reducing the risk of undesired vascularization in other areas of the 
body. The method comprises: (a) Inserting a catheter into a coronary 
artery and providing an infusion port accessible to the administration 
of coronary drug injections; (b) injecting an effective amount of a 
blood vessel growth promoting peptide into the heart; and (c) 
periodically repeating such injection on subsequent days until improved 
cardiac blood flow has been obtained. The subject invention may be 
applied to treating cardiovascular disease and conditions including 
myocardial ischemia and atherosclerosis of the coronary arteries. Such 
a therapy can potentially be used to partially or completely replace 
blocked coronary arteries with new blood vessels without affecting the 
degree of vascularity in the area of the body.
    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. 
The prospective exclusive license may be granted unless, within sixty 
(60) days from the date of this published notice, NIH receives written 
evidence and argument that establishes 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 contemplated license. 
Comments and objections submitted in response 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. 552. Copies of the subject issued patent are available upon 
request.

    Dated: December 1, 1997.
Barbara M. McGarey,
Deputy Director, Office of Technology Transfer.
[FR Doc. 97-32088 Filed 12-8-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4140-01-M