By Donald Zuhn —

Merrimack Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today (June 12, 2007) that it had been granted U.S. Patent No. 7,208,576.  The ‘576 patent, which relates to non-glycosylated human alpha-fetoprotein (huAFP) and biologically-active fragments of non-glycosylated huAFP, is the third U.S. patent to be awarded to the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based biotech company.

According to the statement released by Merrimack, the ‘576 patent covers a composition of matter referred to as MM-093, which is the company’s lead product.  President & CEO Robert Mulroy described MM-093 as "a novel and highly differentiated therapeutic that could have a significant impact in the treatment of autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, uveitis, inflammatory bowel disease and psoriasis, among others."  Merrimack has completed several clinical trials with MM-093, which demonstrate that MM-093 is well tolerated and bioactive in addressing the signs and symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Merrimack’s research and development programs are focused on the identification of products for the treatment of autoimmune diseases and cancer using a proprietary technology platform – Network Biology – that enables the high throughput profiling of complex biological systems.  According to Merrimack’s website, "[r]ather than focus on individual molecular components, Network Biology seeks to understand the system dynamics that govern protein networks – the functional set of proteins that regulate cellular decisions."

The ‘576 patent issued from U.S. Application No. 10/624,380, which was filed July 22, 2003.  Claims 1-3 of the ‘576 patent – the only claims of the ‘576 patent – recite:

1.  Non-glycosylated HuAFP (ng.HuAFP) comprising a glutamine residue at position 233 of SEQ ID NO: 4.

2.  A polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO: 6, wherein said polypeptide comprises a glutamine residue at position 251.

3.  A substantially pure biologically-active fragment of non-glycosylated human alpha-fetoprotein, wherein said fragment comprises the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO: 15 (Domain II), SEQ ID NO: 16 (Domain I+II), or SEQ ID NO: 17 (Domain I+III), or two or more of said amino acid sequences.