Primagen Receives "Notice of Allowance" for Mitox Patent

AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands -- Primagen Holding B.V., a provider of molecular diagnostics tests for infectious diseases, AIDS and cancer, announced that it has received a notice of allowance from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for the use of mitochondrial nucleic acid as a tool to measure toxicity and efficacy of pharmaceutical compounds.  Mitochondrial Toxicity assessment is an integral part of the companys plans to introduce a broad array of Mitox applications that can be used to manage and treat disease.

The notice of allowance indicates that the company has fulfilled all requirements for the issuance of a new patent entitled, Method of determining therapeutic activity and/or possible side-effects of a medicament, expected to be issued in the next two to three months. The companys proprietary mitochondrial nucleic acid marker technology provides researchers and clinicians the ability to measure mitochondrial nucleic acid levels with a simple real time molecular diagnostics test.

The issuance of the mitochondrial DNA patent is a key milestone for the company and the business development strategy for our North American operations, said Steve Owings, president of Primagen Inc. Combined with previous license agreements in the field of mitochondrial testing, this patent solidifies our leadership in this expanding field with a focus on antiretroviral HIV-1 treatment, applications for Hepatis C, cancer and statins which are used to manage high cholesterol conditions.

This is the first patent allowance for our family of Mitox applications that were filed world-wide, and we strongly believe that allowances in other key markets will follow soon, said Bob van Gemen, chief executive officer of Primagen Holding B.V. Our Mitox products are currently used in the United States and Europe, with additional market expansion planned for 2005 in the Far East, Australia and Latin America.

Source: Primagen Holding B.V.