By Darrin S. Joy and Shawn Le
Research conducted by Samuel Rahbar, M.D., Ph.D., and James “Lester” Figarola, Ph.D., has resulted in the 200th patent issued to City of Hope.
Rahbar is a professor and Figarola is an assistant research scientist in the Department of Diabetes, Endocrinology & Metabolism.
More than 40 years ago, Rahbar discovered an altered form of hemoglobin, termed hemoglobin A1C (HbA1c), in the blood of patients with diabetes. HbA1c results when excess blood sugar links to hemoglobin in red blood cells through a process called glycation. This key discovery led to the establishment of HbA1c as a tool to assess risk of diabetic complications and as a clinical test to monitor patients’ compliance with treatments.
Over the decades, Rahbar has continued his research into the phenomenon of glycation, which is involved in processes that lead to a host of diabetic complications, including blindness and a numbing of the fingers and toes. Rahbar also has developed new drugs that may ultimately help patients with diabetes.
Among these promising molecules are three compounds that inhibit glycation, lower blood lipid levels and may help prevent atherosclerosis. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office awarded these compounds patent No. 7,320,988, the 200th patent issued to City of Hope.
Brian Clark, Ph.D., director of City of Hope’s Office of Technology Licensing, which operates under the Center for Applied Technology Development, recognized this milestone.
“Dr. Rahbar’s research has produced fundamental improvements in the medical care that diabetic patients can receive,” he said. “This 200th patent awarded to City of Hope is a testament to his unstinting work in this field while at City of Hope. His research has resulted in eight U.S. patents for the institution so far.”
Clark notes that City of Hope has a long and distinguished role in important biomedical inventions.
“I consider City of Hope as the birthplace of the biotech revolution for its groundbreaking synthesis of the first artificial gene encoding a polypeptide. The institute has gone on to make other key innovations including recombinant antibody production, genetic testing technologies and novel therapeutics,” Clark said.
The Office of Technology Licensing protects City of Hope’s intellectual property and identifies commercial partners to turn the ideas into novel therapies and products.
“Every research lab has the potential to produce some form of intellectual property,” said Clark. “Some intellectual property can be protected by patents; these are important assets for City of Hope. By licensing our patents to companies, we can leverage the energy, resources and skills of those corporations to advance the technology. Income we receive from licenses provides funding for additional research.”
Examples of City of Hope’s licensing deals abound. They include Nastech Pharmaceuticals and Dicerna Pharmaceuticals, two biotechnology companies that are working on turning small interfering RNA developed in the laboratory of John Rossi, Ph.D., Lidow Family Research Chair and professor in molecular biology, into potential cancer therapies.
Clark also noted that J. Martin Hogan, M.D., chair of the Division of Diagnostic Radiology, invented a safety needle that was licensed to medical equipment manufacturer Becton Dickinson and has sold more than one hundred million units. Oncomethylome S.A. in Belgium is developing a potential cancer diagnostic test based on a tumor suppressor gene discovered by Gerd Pfeifer, Ph.D., Lester M. and Irene C. Finkelstein Chair in Biology, and Tibor Rauch, Ph.D., a research fellow in Pfeifer’s lab.
City of Hope inventors share in the proceeds that the institution receives from licensing agreements. The patent process can take more than five years from the conception of an idea to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s ultimate issuance of a patent.
“The sooner intellectual property issues are raised, the easier they are to address,” said Clark. “We encourage any scientist who has questions about intellectual property or the patent process to contact us.”