Multicell Technologies awarded patent for cancer, hepatitis-fighting platform
By Elizabeth W. Lorenz
PBN Staff Writer
9/3/14
WOONSOCKET – MultiCell Technologies Inc. has been issued a U.S. patent for drug compositions and platform technologies, which are designed treat virus infections and cancer.
The patent seeks to address what the company calls an unmet medical need. The therapeutics will be used to treat hepatitis B and hepatitis C, as well as hepatocellular carcinoma, which is one of the leading causes of cancer deaths worldwide and the fourth most common form of liver cancer. According to the National Cancer Institute, there are more than 1 million cases of hepatocellular carcinoma worldwide and only 16 percent of patients diagnosed with primary liver cancer live longer than five years.
After studying mouse cancer models, MultiCell Technologies found that a combination of MCT-465, a noncoding doubled-stranded RNA therapeutic and MCT-475, a recombinant immunoglobulin-peptide therapeutic, were able to stimulate the animal’s immune system to eradicate an engrafted tumor. The drug combination also promoted a protective immunity toward any new tumor variants by producing more cytokine proteins (interferon gamma and interleukin-2). The proteins produced antigen-specific T cells, leaving immunized mice with significantly lower virus levels than those that weren’t.
Aside from finding new anti-tumor immune cells, findings also provided insight about the immune memory in animals.
MultiCell Technologies Inc. is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company based in Woonsocket that develops novel therapeutics and discovery tools in order to treat neurological disorders, hepatic disease and cancer.
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