The '871 patent, which has been exclusively licensed to the start-up Genteric, Inc. (Alameda, CA), specifically claims the use of an oral formulation of exogenous DNA encoding the human insulin gene that produces an effective amount of insulin reducing blood glucose levels to normal levels in a rat diabetes model system, but the patent claims extend to humans. “This is certainly an unexpected result,” says Malcolm Brenner, director of the International Center for Cell and Gene Transfer at Baylor College of Medicine (Houston, TX). “It has been thought that the intestinal cells were resistant to taking up DNA because of the possibility of contracting a virus or some foreign DNA”.
“For the first time there is a technology that has the potential to impact the gene therapy community in a broad way differing from the typical specialty approach we see with other gene therapy efforts,” says Ansbert Gädicke, president and chair of MPM Capital Group, a Cambridge, MA-based venture capital firm. “When we look at this from the perspective of big pharma, the market for oral therapies is larger and has a far-reaching market potential. Oral therapy also has impacts on the gene therapy market from the perspective of dosing, safety, and delivery to the patient.”
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