[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 158 (Tuesday, August 17, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Page 44690]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-21205]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Institute of Standards and Technology


Notice of Prospective Grant of Exclusive Patent License

AGENCY: National Institute of Standards and Technology, Commerce.

SUMMARY: This is a notice in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 209(c)(1) and 37 
CFR 404.7(a)(1)(i) that the National Institute of Standards and 
Technology (``NIST''), U.S. Department of Commerce, is contemplating 
the grant of an exclusive license in the United States of America, its 
territories, possessions and commonwealths, to NIST's interest in the 
invention embodied in U.S. Patent 5,389,523, titled, ``Liposome 
Immunoanalysis By Flow Injection Assay'', filed July 23, 1992; NIST 
Docket No. 92-054C to Kalibrant Limited, having a place of business at 
2 Oakwood Drive, Loughborough Park, Loughboro, Leics LE11 3NH, United 
Kingdom. The grant of the license would be for the following fields of 
use (1) Human Clinical Diagnostics and Prognostics Including Central 
Lab Testing and Blood Screening/Typing, specifically excluding Point-
of-Care Patient Monitoring, (2) Drug Discovery Including Combinatorial 
Chemistry and High Throughput Screening Applications.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
J. Terry Lunch, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Office 
of Technology Partnerships, 100 Bureau Drive, Stop 2200, Gaithersburg, 
MD 20899-2200.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 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 days from the date of this published 
Notice, NIST receives written evidence and argument which establish 
that the grant of the license would not be consistent with the 
requirements of 35 U.S.C. 209 and 37 CFR 404.7. The availability of the 
invention for licensing was published in the Federal Register, Vol. 57, 
No. 226 (November 23, 1992). NIST and Kalibrant Limited may enter into 
a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) to further 
development of the invention.
    U.S. Patent application 07/917,426 is owned by the U.S. Government, 
as represented by the Secretary of Commerce. The present invention 
relates to a method of immunoanalysis that combines immobilized 
immunochemistry with the technique of flow injection analysis, and 
employs microscopic spherical structures called liposomes, or lipid 
vesicles, as carriers of detectable reagents. Liposomes are modified on 
their surface with analytical reagents, and carry in their internal 
volume a very large number of fluorescent or electroactive molecules. 
Aspects of this embodiment of the invention include chemistry for 
covalent immobilization of antibody fragments in a specified 
orientation, the use of liposomes in a flow injection analysis system, 
and with reusable immunoreactants. Another aspect of the invention 
involves the non-covalent binding of liposomes to a receptor for use in 
a homogeneous assay. In another aspect of the invention the intensity 
of scattered light is quantitated as a measure of liposome aggregation 
in response to a concentration-dependent immunospecific reaction.

    Dated: August 9, 1999.
Karen H. Brown,
Deputy Director.
[FR Doc. 99-21205 Filed 8-16-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-13-M