Next up, Nanoplasmids: Nature Technology Corporation Granted Seven US Patents

LINCOLN, Neb.

Nature Technology Corporation (NTC), a leader in the development of nucleic acids based vaccines and therapeutics, today announced that seven key US patents in the field of gene therapy and DNA vaccination have been issued or allowed by the US Patent and Trademark Office, and three more international patent applications have been filed regarding the company’s Nanoplasmid™ platform for superior and long lasting therapeutic gene expression in humans.

“NTC’s DNA vaccines and gene therapeutic vectors are steadily advancing through partners’ clinical trials around the world,” said Clague Hodgson, NTC President. “In order for transferred DNA to work effectively in humans, regulatory compliant vectors with strong expression, long endurance, and economical manufacturing are required,” he said, adding that the recent inventions address these ideas directly, culminating in Nanoplasmids™.

Dr. Jim Williams, leader of the scientific team, systematically attacked several problems that were facing the industry: first, devising the RNA-OUT antibiotic free selection marker to address regulatory agency concerns regarding the use of antibiotic selection markers in non-viral or viral vectors; second, creating the regulatory compliant antibiotic free NTC8 series RNA-OUT vectors with improved expression level compared to canonical plasmids; third, devising designer manufacturing strains and processes to improve vector fermentation yields during manufacturing (HyperGRO™ process); and fourth, developing a downstream manufacturing process wherein bacterial cell factories (that are used to grow the DNA) are designed to release the therapeutic product from the growing cells, where it can be more easily purified (autolysis). Additionally, for DNA vaccination applications, immunostimulatory expressed RNA (eRNA) cassettes that activate innate immunity to effect improved adaptive immune responses to encoded antigens were engineered into the vector backbones. The resulting inventions facilitate the production and implementation of safe, potent and economical DNA biologics.

The clinically validated NTC8 series RNA-OUT antibiotic free non-viral vector platform, and HyperGRO™ manufacturing process, has been licensed for multiple therapy and vaccination applications. The issuance of these patents that cover key vector platform features such as RNA-OUT antibiotic free selection provides added product protection value to these licenses.

“Most important for our clients that are developing new drugs, has been the development of NTC’s next generation RNA-OUT antibiotic free Nanoplasmid™ vector platform for superior gene expression and duration compared to alternative technologies such as minicircle vectors and even the NTC8 series vectors,” Hodgson added. “In addition to the Nanoplasmid™ inventions themselves, this platform is now protected broadly by the patented RNA-OUT intellectual property,” he said.

The three Nanoplasmid™ patents recently filed by inventor Williams protect novel Nanoplasmid™ vector compositions that dramatically increase transgene expression level and duration compared to industry standard vectors such as plasmids or minicircles, along with methodologies for high yield Nanoplasmid™ fermentation production in E. coli cells, and simple downstream purification.

Additional Information:

Nanoplasmid™ vectors have been tested in more than 20 laboratories worldwide, and are now licensable for production of non-viral gene therapeutics, personalized medicines and DNA vaccines. For more details, and a listing of the patents, please visit www.natx.com.

2015 NTC corporate presentation: http://www.natx.com/assets/ntcpresentation-june-5-2015.pdf

NTC Patents: http://www.natx.com/about_ntc.html

About Nature Technology Corporation (NTC)

NTC is a biotechnology company that provides industry partners with world-class technology platforms including safe and efficacious non-viral vectors (plasmids) and processes for gene therapy and DNA vaccination vector production.

NTC also provides fast, cost-effective and complete product development services, including synthetic gene design, vector construction, plasmid DNA manufacturing and recombinant proteins.

URL: http://www.natx.com

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Nature Technology Corporation
Clague Hodgson, CEO, 402-323-6289
Fax: 402-323-6292
support@natx.com
or
Jim Williams, CSO, 402-309-0893
Fax: 402-323-6292
jim@natx.com
Contact Dr. Williams to arrange a meeting at BIO 2015 Philadelphia, PA, June 17-18: Cell: 402-309-0893