[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 185 (Friday, September 24, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 58415-58416]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-23975]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
National Institutes of Health
Prospective Grant of Exclusive License: Prevention, Prophylaxis,
Cure, Amelioration, and/or Treatment of Infection and/or the Effects
Thereof of Chikungunya Infections in Humans
AGENCY: National Institutes of Health, Public Health Service, HHS.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: This is notice, in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 209(c)(1) and 37
CFR 404.7(a)(1)(i), that the National Institutes of Health (NIH),
Department of Health and Human Services, is contemplating the grant of
an exclusive license to practice the invention embodied in Patent
Applications USSN 61/118,206, filed on November 26, 2008, and 61/
201,118, filed on December 5, 2008; and PCT/US2009/006294, filed
November 24, 2009; entitled ``Virus Like Particle Compositions and
Methods of Use'', to Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp. having a place of
business in 770 Sumneytown Pike, West Point, PA 19486. The patent
rights in this invention have been assigned to the United States of
America.
DATES: Only written comments and/or application for a license that are
received by the NIH Office of Technology Transfer on or before October
25, 2010 will be considered.
ADDRESSES: Requests for a copy of the patent application, inquiries,
comments and other materials relating to the contemplated license
should be directed to: Cristina Thalhammer-Reyero, PhD , M.B.A., Office
of Technology Transfer, National Institutes of Health, 6011 Executive
Boulevard, Suite 325, Rockville, MD 20852-3804; E-mail:
[email protected]; Telephone: 301-435-4507; Facsimile: 301-402-
0220.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The prospective worldwide exclusive license
will be royalty bearing and will comply with the terms and conditions
of 35 U.S.C. 209 and 37 CFR 404.7. The prospective exclusive license
may be granted unless, within 30 days from the date of this published
Notice, NIH receives written evidence and argument that establishes
that the grant of the license would not be consistent with the
requirements of 35 U.S.C. 209 and 37 CFR 404.7.
The invention relates to compositions and methods of use as
vaccines of virus-like particles (VLPs) expressing one or more
alphavirus capsid or envelope proteins, and in particular Chikungunya
[[Page 58416]]
virus (CHIKV) envelope proteins. The invention also describes DNA,
viral or other gene-based vector and VLP vaccines, methods of making
and methods of their use in inducing immunity to alphavirus infection.
Alphaviruses are RNA-containing viruses that cause a wide variety of
mosquito-transmitted diseases, including equine encephalitis. CHIKV, an
alphavirus in the family Togaviridae, was first isolated in Tanzania in
1952 and is transmitted to humans by mosquitoes. The disease caused by
CHIKV resembles infection by dengue virus, characterized by rash, high
fever, and severe, sometimes persistent arthritis.
The field of use may be limited to ``Prevention, prophylaxis, cure,
amelioration, and/or treatment of infection and/or the effects thereof
of Chikungunya infections in humans''.
Properly filed competing applications for a license filed in
response to this notice will be treated as objections to the
contemplated license. Comments and objections submitted in response to
this notice will not be made available for public inspection, and, to
the extent permitted by law, will not be released under the Freedom of
Information Act, 5 U.S.C. 552.
Dated: September 20, 2010.
Richard U. Rodriguez,
Director, Division of Technology Development & Transfer, Office of
Technology Transfer, National Institutes of Health.
[FR Doc. 2010-23975 Filed 9-23-10; 8:45 am]
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