[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 40 (Wednesday, March 2, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10103-10104]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-3965]


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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.

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SUMMARY: The inventions listed below are owned by an agency 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 
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

[[Page 10104]]

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.

Broadly Cross-Reactive HIV-1 Neutralizing Human Monoclonal Antibodies

    Drs. Dimiter S. Dimitrov and Mei-yun Zhang (NCI), U.S. Provisional 
Application No. 60/623,394 filed 29 Oct 2004 (DHHS Reference No. E-251-
2004/0-US-01) Licensing Contact: Sally Hu; 301/435-5606; 
[email protected].
    The invention provides for pharmaceutical compositions of, and 
methods of using potent cross-reactive human monoclonal antibodies to 
HIV. Specifically, the invention describes a competitive antigen 
panning (CAP) method of isolating antibodies that bind to the gp41 
subunit of the HIV-1 envelop glycoprotein. Additionally, the invention 
includes compositions of the aforementioned antibodies and the epitopes 
recognized by the antibodies. Methods of using the invention in the 
development of vaccine immunogens for the treatment and prevention of 
HIV, as well as the detection of HIV in a mammal are also described. 
The invention has significant implications in the development of HIV 
inhibitors, vaccines, and research tools for understanding mechanisms 
of HIV entry. Further development of the disclosed invention may yield 
novel therapies and methods in the prevention of mother-to-child 
transmission of HIV, treatment of accidental exposure to HIV, and 
chronic infection in patients with resistance to current therapies.
    In addition to licensing, the technology is available for further 
development through collaborative research opportunities with the 
inventors.

Endotoxin-Free Vaccine Candidate for Moraxella Catarrhalis

    Xin-Xing Gu and Daxin Peng (NIDCD), U.S. Provisional Application 
No. 60/577,244 filed 04 Jun 2004 (DHHS Reference No. E-174-2004/0-US-
01); U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/613,139 filed 23 Sep 23 (DHHS 
Reference No. E-174-2004/1-US-01), Licensing Contact: Susan Ano; 301/
435-5515; [email protected].
    This invention relates to a strain of Moraxella catarrhalis 
containing a gene mutation that prevents endotoxic lipooligosaccharide 
(LOS) synthesis and potential use of the mutant for developing novel 
vaccines against the pathogen, for which there is currently no licensed 
vaccine. The mutant is defective in the lpxA gene, whose enzyme product 
is relevant in lipid A biosynthesis (lipid A is part of the LOS). 
Previous attempts to produce similar mutants for other bacteria were 
unsuccessful. The nontoxic mutant was found to elicit high levels of 
antibodies with bactericidal activity and provided protection against 
wild type bacterial challenge. Use of this mutant bacterium is 
envisioned as a new approach for vaccines against M. catarrhalis.
    In addition to licensing, the technology is available for further 
development through collaborative research opportunities with the 
inventors.

Single Lipid Nanoparticle

    S. Narasimhan Danthi, King Li, Jianwu Xie (NIH/CC/LDRR), U.S. 
Provisional Application filed 19 Jan 2005 (DHHS Reference No. E-100-
2004/0-US-01), Michael Shmilovich; 301/435-5019; [email protected].
    Available for licensing and commercial development are nanoparticle 
compositions comprising a phospholipid or diphosphatidyl glycerol 
component, an optional linker and a multifunctional ligand. A patent 
application has been filed covering the nanoparticle compositions and 
their methods of use as site-specific imaging or therapeutic agents. 
The particles are preferably single lipid compounds or single lipid 
nanoparticles (SLNs) prepared from single lipids (e.g., being a lipid 
molecule of a single lipid type or of a uniform structural type).
    In addition to licensing, the technology is available for further 
development through collaborative research opportunities with the 
inventors.

Identification of a G-protein Coupled Receptor, FPR, as a Functional 
Receptor for the Leukocyte Chemotactic Activity of the Neutrophil 
Granule Protein Cathepsin G (CaG)

    Ji Ming Wang, Ronghua Sun, Joost Oppenheim, and Ye Zhou (NCI), U.S. 
Provisional Application No. 60/581,765 filed 23 Jun 2004 (DHHS 
Reference No. E-281-2003/0-US-01), Licensing Contact: Cristina 
Thalhammer-Reyero; 301/435-4507; [email protected].
    This invention relates to methods for identifying peptides of 
Cathepsin G (CaG), or active variants thereof, which modulate 
activities of the receptor for bacterial chemotactic formyl peptides 
(FPR), including chemotactic behavior. It provides methods of designing 
therapeutic approaches related to the host defense based on the 
interaction of CaG and FPR, as CaG binds to FPR to mediate the 
proinflammatory activities of CaG. The inventive aspects relate to the 
finding that CaG induces a more partial and selective effects upon 
activation of FPR to mediate a certain and more limited immunological 
activity than other agonists that are also capable of binding FPR. The 
limitations in the activity include not inducing calcium flux, having 
only a week activation of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs), 
and being able to activate certain types of atypical protein kinase C 
(PKC), such as PKCzeta, while not activating PKCalpha and PKCbeta. 
These limitations are advantageous in attempting to limit the response 
in mobilizing the phagocytic leukocyte infiltration to mediate the 
clearance and repair of damaged tissue while not amplifying the general 
inflammatory response, which may result in damage to healthy and normal 
tissue.
    The technology is further described in R. Sun et al., 
``Identification of Neutrophil Granule Protein Cathepsin G as a Novel 
Chemotactic Agonist for the G Protein-Coupled Formyl Peptide 
Receptor'', J. Immunol. 2004 173:428-436.
    In addition to licensing, the technology is available for further 
development through collaborative research with the inventors via a 
Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA).

    Dated: February 22, 2005.
Steven M. Ferguson,
Director, Division of Technology Development and Transfer, Office of 
Technology Transfer, National Institutes of Health.
[FR Doc. 05-3965 Filed 3-1-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4140-01-P