BioCurex Obtains First Patent on Therapeutic Applications for Proprietary RECAF marker

19-Sep-2008 - Canada

BioCurex Inc. announced that the Australian Patent Office has issued a notice of acceptance for a divisional application of our original patent filing. This is the first patent awarded to BioCurex for the development of therapeutic applications of its RECAF technology. All proprietary protection had previously only covered diagnostic applications, and this approval from the Australian Patent Office is a milestone for the company in an important field of application, according to the company.

The original filing contained claims related to both diagnostics and therapeutics. During the reviewing process, the mixed nature of the claims resulted in a split technically known as a divisional application) of the claims in two separate patent files while maintaining the original date. The diagnostic patent application was granted by the Australian Patent Office before and now, the divisional containing the claims for therapeutic applications have also been approved. The process of filing a divisional is a fairly common practice.

BioCurex has proprietary technology on the uses of a molecule called RECAF that is present on the surface and inside cancer cells - though which are mostly absent from healthy cells as well as benign tumor cells. Cancer cells release some RECAF into the blood stream and this has allowed us to develop a blood test for cancer that detects approximately 90% of patients with malignancies at the standard specificity of 95% (5% false positives).

The presence of RECAF also on the surface of malignant cells allows for the specific targeting of a cancer. That is, there is no collateral damage to healthy cells known as 'side effects' produced by traditional chemotherapy. Antibodies are particularly suited to target specific molecules and approximately 20 have already been approved by the FDA. Applications range from arthritis (Humira®) to cancer (Rituximab®, certain lymphomas and leukemias).

Biocurex is already working on therapeutic applications, an initiative that will be largely expanded once the diagnostic applications are marketed.

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