| WARF: P09203US02 |  |
| Novel Candidates for an Improved Tuberculosis Vaccine |
| INVENTORS | • | Adel Talaat, Bassam Abomoelak, Sarah Ward |
The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) is seeking commercial partners interested in developing materials and methods for an improved vaccine against tuberculosis (TB).
OVERVIEW
Approximately one-third of the world’s population is infected with the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent of tuberculosis (TB). Five to 10 percent of non-immunocompromised individuals infected with M. tuberculosis will develop active TB during their lifetimes. TB ultimately causes 1.7 million deaths every year and is a leading cause of death of individuals infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). A vaccine for tuberculosis has been developed and is used routinely worldwide. However, this vaccine, which consists of an attenuated strain of the bovine pathogen M. bovis, is ineffective against TB strains that infect adults.
Drugs are available to treat TB, but resistance has developed against every drug currently available. Multi-drug resistant (MDR) and extensively drug resistant (XDR) strains pose a serious threat. New methods of preventing or treating TB are needed.
THE INVENTION
UW-Madison researchers have developed four candidates for a live attenuated TB vaccine. They disrupted regions of the M. tuberculosis genome that are associated with pathogenicity and identified viable but attenuated mutants with disruptions in the ctpV, rv0990c, rv0971c or rv0348 genes. These mutants may be useful for eliciting an immune response against tuberculosis.
BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY
- In 2006, the World Health Organization launched the “Global Plan to Stop TB” program with goals to reduce TB by 50 percent by 2015 and to eliminate TB as a public health concern by 2050.
APPLICATIONS
- Vaccines against TB
- Drug targets for treating different stages of TB
- Genetic vaccines based on the identified genes
KEY BENEFITS
- Provides improved candidates for a TB vaccine
- Unlike the current commercial TB vaccine, vaccines developed from these mutants should protect against TB in adults.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
For More Information About the Inventors
Intellectual Property Status
Patent applied for.
Tech Fields
Pharmaceuticals & Vitamin D - Vaccines
Drug Discovery - Targets
CONTACT INFORMATION
For current licensing status, please contact our team at
licensing@warf.org
or phone 608.262.4924. (Clicking this link will open a contact form in a popup window. If you have problems viewing the form, try disabling your popup blocker software.)
WARF: A Leader in Technology Transfer Since 1925
Since its founding as the patenting and licensing arm of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, WARF has been working with business and industry to transform university research into products that benefit society. WARF intellectual property managers and licensing staff members are leaders in the field of university-based technology transfer. They are familiar with the intricacies of patenting, have worked with researchers in relevant disciplines, understand industries and markets, and have negotiated innovative licensing strategies to meet the individual needs of business clients.
The University of Wisconsin and WARF -
A Single Location to Accelerate Translational Development of New Drugs
The UW-Madison has the integrative capabilities to complete many key components of the drug development cycle, from discovery through clinical trials. As one of the top research universities in the world, and one of the two best-funded universities in the country, UW-Madison offers state-of-the-art facilities unmatched by most public universities.
These include the Small Molecule Screening Facility at the UW Comprehensive Cancer Center; the Zeeh Pharmaceutical Experiment Station, which provides consulting and laboratory services for developing formulations and studying solubility, stability and more; the Waisman Clinical Biomanufacturing Facility; the Wisconsin Institute for Medical Research, which provides UW-Madison with a complete translational research facility; and soon, the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery, made up of innovative private and public interdisciplinary biomedical research institutes. The highly qualified experts at these facilities are ready to work with you to create a library of candidates for drug development.
Since its founding as the patenting and licensing arm of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, WARF has been working with business and industry to transform university research into products that benefit society. WARF intellectual property managers and licensing staff members are leaders in the field of university-based technology transfer. They are familiar with the intricacies of patenting, have worked with researchers in relevant disciplines, understand industries and markets, and have negotiated innovative licensing strategies to meet the individual needs of business clients.
The University of Wisconsin and WARF -
A Single Location to Accelerate Translational Development of New Drugs
The UW-Madison has the integrative capabilities to complete many key components of the drug development cycle, from discovery through clinical trials. As one of the top research universities in the world, and one of the two best-funded universities in the country, UW-Madison offers state-of-the-art facilities unmatched by most public universities.
These include the Small Molecule Screening Facility at the UW Comprehensive Cancer Center; the Zeeh Pharmaceutical Experiment Station, which provides consulting and laboratory services for developing formulations and studying solubility, stability and more; the Waisman Clinical Biomanufacturing Facility; the Wisconsin Institute for Medical Research, which provides UW-Madison with a complete translational research facility; and soon, the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery, made up of innovative private and public interdisciplinary biomedical research institutes. The highly qualified experts at these facilities are ready to work with you to create a library of candidates for drug development.
