[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 221 (Monday, November 17, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 68455-68456]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-27083]


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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, HHS.

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. 209 and 37 CFR Part 404 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.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 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.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Technology descriptions follow.

Heterocyclic Compounds for the Treatment of Hepatitis C Virus

    Description of Technology: The vast majority of people infected 
with Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) will have chronic infection. Over decades, 
this can lead to liver disease and liver cancer. In fact, HCV infection 
is the leading cause of liver transplants in the U.S. Several new drugs 
have recently come into the market that have changed the HCV treatment 
paradigm. However, the effectiveness of these new drugs can vary 
depending on the HCV genotype. Furthermore, all oral, interferon free 
therapeutic regimens for HCV infection will need combinations of drugs 
that target different aspects of the HCV life cycle. Thus, there is 
still the need for additional new therapeutics against HCV.
    The subject technologies are aryloxazole based small molecules that 
are potent inhibitors of HCV infection and replication. The compounds 
exhibit synergy with currently available therapeutics for HCV and 
represent a new class of anti-HCV compounds. The compounds affect the 
entry step of HCV infection, a step not targeted by currently available 
therapeutics against HCV.
    Potential Commercial Applications: Prevention and treatment of HCV 
infection.
    Competitive Advantages:
     Potent inhibitors of HCV infection and replication.
     Show synergistic effect with currently available HCV 
therapeutics.
     Represent new class of HCV inhibitors that target the 
entry step of HCV infection.
    Development Stage:
     Early-stage.
     In vitro data available.

[[Page 68456]]

    Inventors: Jake Tsanyang Liang (NIDDK), Zongyi Hu (NIDDK), Juan 
Jose Marugan (NCATS), Noel Terrance Southhall (NCATS), Xin Hu (NCATS), 
Jingbo Xiao (NCATS), Shanshan He (NIDDK), Marc Ferrer-Alegre (NCATS), 
Wei Zhang (NCATS)
    Intellectual Property: HHS Reference No. E-161-2014/0--U.S. 
Provisional Patent Application No. 62/011,462 filed 12 June2014
    Licensing Contact: Kevin W. Chang, Ph.D.; 301-435-5018; 
[email protected]

Autodock Vina Software Process for Efficient Large-Scale Cognate Ligand 
Screening

    Description of Technology: The invention pertains to software 
processes, additions, and docking approaches to Autodock Vina that 
speeds the rate and efficiency of analyzing ligand interactions with a 
receptor by cognate ligands and rewards conformations in the scoring 
algorithm for residue interactions that are based on the biological 
data. The score is multiplied by a weighting factor to control the 
degree of ligand-residue interactions that are considered. This 
multiplier is then added to the docking score for confirmation. This 
new scoring mechanism is used to score each compound in each generation 
of the evolutionary genetic algorithm. This docking approach can be 
used to score and rank compounds in large-scale virtual screening 
applications. The software includes logic for converting SDF formatted 
to an Autodock Vina compatible format (containing approx. 25,000 
compounds each) and submits the job to the portable batch system on the 
computing cluster to convert into PDBC files (a concatenated filed 
type). Modified Vina software stores the analyzed binding pocket in RAM 
that does not have to be recomputed upon every docking process. This 
increases the efficiency of the docking algorithm by several orders of 
magnitude. The software on the head node intelligently monitors memory 
usage, CPU usage and docking speed. Based on this information, the head 
node elastically controls the load on each node.
    Potential Commercial Applications:
     Drug screening.
     Ligand identification.
    Competitive Advantages:
     Speed.
     Batch processing.
     Efficient CPU processing.
    Development Stage: In vitro data available.
    Inventors: Marvin Gershengorn, Umesh Padia, Janak Padia, Elizabeth 
Geras-Raaka (all of NIDDK).
    Intellectual Property: HHS Reference No. E-289-2014/0--Software 
Tool. Patent protection is not being pursued for this technology.
    Licensing Contact: Michael Shmilovich, Esq.; 301-435-5019; 
[email protected].
    Collaborative Research Opportunity: The National Institutes of 
Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases is seeking statements of 
capability or interest from parties interested in collaborative 
research to further develop, evaluate or commercialize Cognate Ligand 
Identification. For collaboration opportunities, please contact Anna 
Amar at 301-451-2305 or [email protected].

    Dated: November 10, 2014.
Richard U. Rodriguez,
Director, Division of Technology Development and Transfer, Office of 
Technology Transfer, National Institutes of Health.
[FR Doc. 2014-27083 Filed 11-14-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4140-01-P