Nastech receives U.S. patent for methods for identifying cell-specific targeting peptides

Nastech Pharmaceutical Company Inc. has announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has issued a Notice of Allowance for U.S. patent application No. 10/976,942, entitled "Phage Displayed Trp Cage Ligands".

"The patent application has claims that relate to a novel, high-throughput method for identifying peptides which can bind to specific cell types.

"A major obstacle in the development of safe and effective medicines today is the inability to target the therapeutic directly to the cells of interest," stated Steven C. Quay, M.D., Ph.D., Chairman and CEO of Nastech. "The technology of this allowed patent provides Nastech with a process for rapidly identifying peptides that target specific cells. These targeting peptides can then be combined with therapeutics to enhance overall delivery and overcome this key challenge in drug development."

Nastech published in the March, 2007 issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry results that demonstrate the use of a proprietary phage display library to screen protein to protein interactions and protein-DNA interactions. Using this library Nastech can select peptides that are able to target specific cell types. These peptides can then be used to enhance the targeted delivery of therapeutic molecules and diagnostic agents.

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