Press Releases
Cell Signaling Technology, Inc. Expands its PhosphoScan® Patent Portfolio
Danvers, MA, March 27, 2007 – Cell Signaling Technology, Inc. (CST) announced today that it has obtained a notice of issuance from the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office for its patent entitled “Immunoaffinity Isolation of Modified Peptides from Complex Mixtures” (Rush et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,198,896). The patented technology, which CST commercializes under the trademarks PhosphoScan® and AcetylScan®, covers the selective isolation of a target population of post-translationally modified peptides from a complex mixture of peptides by using immobilized modification-specific antibodies, followed by mass spectrometric determination of modification sites and parent protein identification. The technology is uniquely applicable and has been used extensively for global phospho-profiling (PhosphoScan®) and acetylation profiling (AcetylScan®) for understanding disease mechanism, target and substrate validation and identification of drug-response biomarkers.
“The allowance of this fundamental U.S. patent confirms Cell Signaling Technology’s leadership in providing new and powerful proprietary discovery technologies that are enabling the advancement of signal transduction research and drug development.” said James G. Cullem, J.D., the company’s Director of Intellectual Property & Licensing and Chief I.P. Counsel. PhosphoScan® technology enables the discovery of cell and tissue phospho-profiles (Phospho-Signatures®), and the quantification of inhibitor-response profiles. “The Phospho-Signatures® discovered with PhosphoScan® may enable the development of biomarker assays for use in the clinical development of therapeutic kinase inhibitors. PhosphoScan® is a particularly powerful tool when used to quantify changes in cell or tissue phospho-profiles resulting from treatment with targeted small molecules,” said Christopher Bunker, Ph.D., the company’s Director of Business Development.
The company has also been issued patents covering the technology in Australia and Canada, and expects similar issuances in Europe and Japan in the near future. The patented technology was first described in the journal Nature Biotechnology, Rush J. et al, Nat. Biotechnol. 23: 94-101 (2005), and is the subject of R&D projects that CST is conducting with AstraZeneca, Merck & Co., Bristol-Myers Squibb & Co., Novartis and other pharmaceutical developers. The technology has also been applied in collaborative projects, including a project with Dr. Brian Druker of Oregon Health Sciences University, to discover novel kinase-based mechanisms of disease.
About Cell Signaling Technology, Inc.
Cell Signaling Technology, Inc. is a worldwide leader in the development and commercialization of phospho-specific antibodies and assays for kinase and pathway analysis, as well as novel discovery technologies such as PhosphoScan®. CST’s phospho-specific antibodies are validated in multiple assay platforms and are critical reagents in all stages of pharmaceutical drug discovery and development. PhosphoScan®/AcetylScan® leverages CST’s core capabilities in antibody development to deliver insight into cellular phosphorylation and acetylation profiles enabling more efficient and informative kinase drug discovery and clinical development. CST is commercializing the PhosphoScan®/AcetylScan® technology through research alliances and licensing opportunities. Information on CST can be obtained at the Company’s website at www.cellsignal.com. Alliance and licensing inquiries should be directed to Dr. Christopher Bunker, Ph.D., Director of New Business Development (978-867-2307; cbunker@cellsignal.com).
