Platform Patent for Clustering a Subset of Antigens for Diagnosing Diseases

ImmunArray, a molecular diagnostic company co-headquartered in Rehovot, Israel and Richmond, Virginia, whose novel blood tests are pioneering new and more accurate ways to diagnose diseases detected by changes in the immune system, today announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) recently issued a new patent that covers one of ImmunArray’s core diagnostic protocols – generic methods for clustering a subset of antigens of a plurality of antigens to diagnose autoimmune and other diseases with autoantibodies.

U.S. Patent No. 10,082,503 was awarded to Yeda Research and Development Co. Ltd., the commercial arm of the Weizmann Institute of Science, which has licensed it exclusively to ImmunArray.  The patent is the latest in a series of patents to issue from its parent application filed in 2001, including U.S. Patent Nos. 8,010,298 and 8,703,654, which are more specifically directed to methods and articles for diagnosing diabetes.  Due to the long pendency during prosecution, the USPTO also granted an extension of the term of the new patent for over three years, so it will not expire until 2024.

“This new patent is important for our company as it augments our intellectual property protection not only for our core products in the autoimmune field, but also because it is a platform-type patent applicable to other diseases including cancer, immune deficiency disease, degenerative disease, metabolic disease, infectious disease, genetic disease, mental disorder, organ transplantation, injury or intoxication, or any condition involving cytokines or inflammation,” said Susan Evans, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of ImmunArray.