Crescendo Biologics Extends IP Protection for Mouse Knock Out Technology

CAMBRIDGE, England, October 5, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Crescendo Biologics Limited (Crescendo) today announces it has received Notice of Allowance of US 12/476,087 (a continuation of its granted patent US 7,541,513) which covers mice in which the endogenous immunoglobulin lambda light chain locus is functionally deleted.

This further extends coverage of the core Crescendo patent family which includes the European patent EP1399559 (inventors: Brüggemann et al.) which was originally granted on 30^th April 2008 to the Babraham Institute and was subsequently assigned to Crescendo. All the key claims of EP1399559 were upheld by the Opposition Division on 4^th April 2011.

Crescendo has already made use of its ability to knock out lambda light chain to generate proprietary 'triple knockout' mice that have the immunoglobulin heavy chain, kappa light chain and lambda light chain loci all functionally deleted. This is a significant advance over previous knockout mice which retain intact lambda light chain.  

Knockout of lambda light chain expression, in addition to knockout of heavy chain and kappa light chain, is important for the efficient generation of human heavy chain antibodies in a transgenic mouse. Therefore the triple knock out background is core to Crescendo's mouse platform which provides fully-human, in vivo-matured V_H fragments, and will be used in the development of differentiated products for the company's in-house pipeline and for partnering.

About Crescendo Biologics Ltd

Crescendo Biologics is building a pipeline of novel medicines based on its highly innovative V_H antibody fragment platform through both in-house development and strategic partnerships. Crescendo's proprietary V_H technology produces human heavy chain-only antibodies in transgenic mice providing a unique source of fully human V_H fragments that have matured in vivo to have high affinity, stability and solubility. V_H fragments are the smallest antibody fragments that retain binding affinity and specificity offering the potential to generate novel products with improved drug-like properties and able to address unmet medical needs.

Crescendo's technologies were invented by scientists at the Babraham Institute, Cambridge (UK). The company has raised funding totalling £7.7 million from an investment consortium led by Sofinnova Partners with Avlar BioVentures, Babraham Bioscience Technologies, and the Rainbow Seed Fund.

http://www.crescendobiologics.com

Contacts

Mike Romanos/Amanda Bettison
Crescendo Biologics
Tel: +44(0)1223-497140
Email: mromanos/abettison@crescendobiologics.com

Chris Gardner
Citigate Dewe Rogerson
Tel: +44(0)207-638-9571
Email: chris.gardner@citigatedr.co.uk