[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 100 (Thursday, May 23, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 36202-36203]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-13018]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

National Institutes of Health


Government-Owned Inventions; Availability for Licensing

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

ACTION: Notice.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The inventions listed below are owned by agencies of the U.S. 
Government and are available for licensing in the U.S. in accordance 
with 35 U.S.C. 207 to achieve expeditious commercialization of results 
of federally-funded research and development. Foreign patent 
applications are filed on selected inventions to extend market coverage

[[Page 36203]]

for companies and may also be available for licensing.

ADDRESSES: Licensing information and copies of the U.S. patent 
applications listed below may be obtained by writing to the indicated 
licensing contact at the Office of Technology Transfer, National 
Institutes of Health, 6011 Executive Boulevard, Suite 325, Rockville, 
Maryland 20852-3804; telephone: 301/496-7057; fax: 301/402-0220. A 
signed Confidential Disclosure Agreement will be required to receive 
copies of the patent applications.

Methods for Predicting Properties of Molecules

Richard Beger, Jon G. Wilkes (FDA).
DHHS Reference No. E-297-01/0 filed 07 Mar 2002.
Licensing Contact: Dale Berkley; 301/496-7735 ext. 223; e-mail: 
[email protected].

    The invention is a method for predicting the biological, chemical, 
and physical properties of molecules from their chemical shift data 
using through-bond and spatial distance connectivity patterns. In this 
method, predicted NMR chemical shift data that has already been 
structurally assigned in the process of developing the spectral 
predictions is used to construct a model that predicts biological, 
chemical and physical properties of the molecule. Since the structural 
assignments are only used to established molecular distance 
connectivity relationships, models can be developed for sets of 
molecules that do not share a common backbone geometry. In model 
development and use there is no molecular docking step. These models 
correlate particular molecules with desired ``endpoints,'' including 
receptor-ligand binding, cancer effects, drug absorption and others. 
The new technique is a three dimensional Quantitative Structure Data-
Activity Relationship (QSDAR) based on the spectrum-activity leg in the 
triangular structure-spectrum-activity relationship. The invention 
provides a quantitative relationship between spectra and certain 
properties or activities of the molecule, and will have important 
implications in the search for new therapeutic drugs. 3D-QSDAR 
Modelling is a very rapid objective process compared to conventional 
predictive methods. In comparable published results, the 3D-QSDAR model 
quality consistently exceeds that of conventional QSAR predictive 
methods.

GP41 Inhibitor

G. Marius Clore et al. (NIDDK).
DHHS Reference No. E-252-01/0 filed 17 Dec 2001.
Licensing Contact: Carol Salata; 301/496-7735 ext. 232; e-mail: 
[email protected].

    The technology relates to a chimeric molecule, NCCG-
gp41, in which the internal trimeric helical coiled-coil of the 
ectodomain of gp41 is fully exposed and stabilized by both fusion to a 
minimal ectodomain core of gp41 and by engineered intersubunit 
disulfide bonds. NCCG-gp41 inhibits HIV envelope mediated 
cell fusion at nonomolar concentrations with an IC50 of 16 
nM. It is proposed that NCCG-gp41 targets the exposed C-
terminal region of the gp41 ectodomain in its pre-hairpin intermediate 
state, thereby preventing the formation of the fusogenic form of the 
gp41 ectodomain that comprises a highly stable trimer of hairpins 
arranged in a six-helix bundle. NCCG-gp41 has potential as 
(a) an HIV therapeutic agent that inhibits cell entry; (b) as an AIDS 
vaccine and; (c) as a component of a high throughput screening assay 
for small molecule inhibitors of HIV envelope mediated cell fusion. 
Antibodies have been raised against NCCG-gp41 that inhibit 
HIV envelope mediated cell fusion. This invention is further described 
in J. Biol. Chem. 2001 Aug 3;276(31):29485-9.

Immunization for Ebola Virus Infection

Gary Nabel (NIAID/VRC), Anthony Sanchez.
Serial No. 60/068,655 filed 23 Dec 1997; Serial No. 09/913,909 filed 17 
Aug 2001.
Licensing Contact: Carol Salata; 301/496-7735 ext. 232; e-mail: 
[email protected].

    The Ebola viruses, and the genetically related Marburg virus, are 
filoviruses associated with outbreaks of highly lethal hemorrhagic 
fever in humans and primates in North America, Europe and Africa. This 
invention relates to Ebola virus vaccines comprising nucleic acid 
molecules encoding Ebola viral proteins (including the transmembrane 
form of the viral Glycoprotein (GP), the secreted form of the viral 
Glycoprotein (sGP) and the viral nucleoprotein (NP)). The nucleic acid 
molecules of the vaccines of the invention encode structural gene 
products of any Ebola viral strain including the Zaire, Sudan, Ivory 
Coast and Reston strains as well as the genetically related Marburg 
virus strains. The invention relates to the nucleic acid vaccines as 
well as the corresponding protein vaccines. The invention also provides 
methods for immunizing a subject against disease caused by infection 
with Ebola virus.

    Dated: May 3, 2002.
Jack Spiegel,
Director, Division of Technology Development and Transfer, Office of 
Technology Transfer, National Institutes of Health.
[FR Doc. 02-13018 Filed 5-22-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4140-01-P