Adjuvant patenting

The relatively low toxicity of the partial esters of the hexitol anhydrides makes them desirable emulsifiers for injectable medications. D-Mannide mono-oleate was used in a patented, single-injection, vaccine composition122 and in an adjuvant vaccine.123... 

Crane, R.T. Aqueous immunologic adjuvant compositions of monophosphoryl lipid A. U.S. Patent 6,491,919 B2 (2002). 

Davidsen, J., Andersen, P., Rosenkrands, I. Compositions and methods for stabilizing lipid based adjuvant formulations using glycolipids. U.S. Patent US 2006/0008519 Al (2006). 

Independent use patents offer the weakest patent protection. They almost invite others to seek possibilities to circumvent them and they do not cover the products that result from the invented new use. Wherever the necessary requirements are fulfilled, product patents should be applied for. In the first example given above, it seems hardly justified to construct product claims for (all) products made by the modified fermentation process. The excipient with adjuvant effects could probably be patented as a product patent, claiming "vaccines containing substance X as a novel adjuvant" with the non-obvious advantage of a better tolerability or efficacy over existing adjuvants. As for the third example, any advantageous characteristic of the resulting product may be used to justify a product patent. 

TABLE G Recent HDLD Patents (2001-2004) on Perfume Adjuvants... 

Liquid detergent process patents frequently define both compositional and process requirements, such as raw material concentrations and specifications, order of addition of critical components, thermal history, premix or adjuvant preparation methods, product/process stabilizers, distributive and dispersive mixing requirements, and process instrumentation. These patents apply to the production of primary raw material constituents, such as surfactants, builders, conditioning agents, rheology regulators, hydrotropes, disinfectants, bleach additives, etc., in addition to the specification of fully formulated detergent systems. 

Lubricating films can be generated on substrate surfaces by chemical processes such as phosphatizing or sulfidizing, but these films are not tightly bound and have little durability their principal function is to act as a sacrificial break-in adjuvant for oil lubrication, and hence they do not fall within our purview of solid lubrication. A notable exception is the process patented by Brophy and Ingraham [127] in which a film deposited electrolytically on a metal substrate from a molybdate bath is reacted with hydrogen sulfide. The electrodepositied film is not... 

Most of the published papers and patents focused on the utilization of the emulsion solvent removal methods in the production of microspheres of the single or the multipurpose types. Majority of investigated microspheres are intended to achieve controlled release of medications by using matrix formers to sustain, or modify drug release by the incorporation of pH sensitive components, adhesive components, temperature sensitive components, or adjuvants to protect the encapsulated... 

Archaeosomes naturally target cells of the mononuclear phagocytic system making them ideally suited for delivery of antigens, as carrier systems and as adjuvants that stimulate the immune system. A number of recent scientific papers and patents give evidence of the current development of formulations of archaeosomes with various antigens as new vaccines. 

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