[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 176 (Tuesday, September 11, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 47235-47236]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-22790]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

National Institutes of Health


Prospective Grant of Exclusive License: Virus-Like Particles for 
the Induction of Autoantibodies

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 
an exclusive license to practice the invention embodied in: United 
States Patent Application 09/835,124 and its foreign equivalents 
entitled ``Virus-Like Particles for the Induction of Autoantibodies'' 
filed on April 13, 2001, with priority back to U.S. S/N 60/105,132, 
filed October 21, 1998 to Cytos Biotechnology AG, having a place of 
business in Zurich, Switzerland. The patent rights in this invention 
have been assigned to the United States of America.

DATES: Only written comments and/or application for a license which are 
received by the NIH Office of Technology Transfer on or before November 
13, 2001 will be considered.

ADDRESSES: Requests for a copy of the patent application, inquiries, 
comments and other materials relating to the contemplated license 
should be directed to: Peter Soukas, Office of Technology Transfer, 
National Institutes of Health, 6011 Executive Boulevard, Suite 325, 
Rockville, MD 20852-3804; Email: [email protected]; Telephone: (301) 496-
7056, ext. 268; Facsimile: (301) 402-0220.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This invention claims compositions and 
methods for producing antibodies to tolerogens (self-antigens normally 
exposed to B cells that fail to induce an antibody response.) The 
compositions of the invention comprise multiple copies of a tolerogen 
(or at least one B cell epitope of a tolerogen) chimerized to viral 
virus-like particle in an orderly manner. This invention could 
potentially replace any treatment utilizing chronic administration of a 
monoclonal antibody that reacts with a self-antigen.
    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 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.
    The field of use may be limited to alphavirus virus-like particle 
(VLP), Hepatitis B Virus (HBV)-capsid protein VLP, and bacteriophage 
Q VLP, and Ty VLP vaccines.
    Properly filed competing applications for a license filed in 
response to this notice will be treated as objections to the 
contemplated license. Comments

[[Page 47236]]

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.

    Dated: September 4, 2001.
Jack Spiegel,
Director, Division of Technology Development and Transfer, Office of 
Technology Transfer.
[FR Doc. 01-22790 Filed 9-10-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4140-01-P