Approval of Vaccine patent

Allergy Therapeutics PLC 11 May 2006 Allergy Therapeutics plc (or 'the company') Announces approval of fundamental Vaccine technology Patent Allergy Therapeutics plc, the specialist pharmaceutical company focused on allergy vaccination, today announces that it has been granted a broad technology patent for the combination of MPL(R) with tyrosine and an antigen by the European Patent Office, covering 24 countries in Europe. The patent is important because it covers vaccine therapy for any bacterial or viral disease and uses an antigen derived from the target organism. Therefore the advanced MPL + tyrosine adjuvant combination, which the company already uses in its therapeutic allergy vaccines, may be employed in the anti-infective field, as a prophylactic or preventative vaccine. This patent also covers the use of this advanced adjuvant system in cancer immunotherapy in addition to bacterial and viral immunotherapy. Infectious disease remains the leading cause of death worldwide and vaccines are recognised as a cost effective solution which will become increasingly important in a market worth in excess of $50 billion. MPL is classified as a TLR4 agonist that acts as a Th1-inducing adjuvant; the adjuvant qualities are enhanced in the presence of tyrosine. This novel combination induces a shift in the immune response (incorporating the production of cytotoxic T cells) which provides a greater efficacy when the disease organism is intracellular, for example with viruses and some bacterial species. Although Allergy Therapeutics is focused primarily on the development on allergy vaccine products, at the same time its IP platform has potentially exciting applications in the anti-infective arena. The anti-infective vaccine market is very large, estimated at $5-11 billion in 2006 and growing. Therefore, the ownership of IP assets such as this is potentially of significant value to the company. Keith Carter, Allergy Therapeutics' Chief Executive Officer, said: "Strong intellectual property is critical to the success of our company. It ensures that we are able to turn great science and medicine into commercially viable products for ourselves, our partners and most importantly, the patients. We are currently focused on delivering our strategy of bringing the next generation of allergy vaccines to market, but are also keen to explore the value of our IP portfolio outside the allergy field. However, it should be stressed that we would only seek to develop products in this field with a joint venture partner. This patent is the latest addition to our portfolio which provides worldwide projection to 2022 and beyond." -ends- For further information: Allergy Therapeutics plc Keith Carter, Chief Executive Officer +44 (0)1903 845 820 Bell Pottinger Dan de Belder +44 (0)20 7861 3232 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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