caprotec bioanalytics Announces Further Patent Protection of its CCMS Technology

BERLIN, Feb. 8, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- caprotec bioanalytics GmbH announced today the issuance of patents in the US, Japan, Canada, Australia and Israel related to methods and composition of matter of its proprietary Capture Compound Mass Spectrometry (CCMS) technology.

Issued US Patent US 7,858,560 titled "Capture Compounds, Collections thereof and Methods for Analyzing the Proteome and Complex Compositions" broadly covers basic bioanalytical principles and applications of the CCMS technology. Three further US applications covering compounds and methods for applying CCMS technology to drug target elucidation and drug design are pending.   

Newly granted Australian Patent AU2006249219 covers capture compounds and methods for analyzing drug interactions. The newly granted Japanese Patent No JP4741458 describes the use of CCMS technology for lead optimization and risk assessment of candidate drugs to make an informed go or no-go decision to enter the clinical trial phase. Newly granted Japanese Patent JP4842914 covers methods for identifying drug targets and non-targets, and capture compounds for use in such methods.

The Canadian Patent No CA2,658,334 covers capture compounds and their use in methods for identifying, separating and analyzing drug targets. Israel Patent No. 169437 covers methods for assessing drug interactions and identifying drug target and non-target proteins by CCMS technology.

"We are pleased about this significant broadening of our patent portfolio, protecting our proprietary CCMS technology and endorsing the uniqueness of this powerful proteome analysis technology," states Dr. Hubert Koster, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of caprotec bioanalytics GmbH. 

CCMS offers a novel and direct way to investigate small molecule - protein interactions resulting in a significant functional reduction of proteome complexity for a broad range of applications in proteome R&D, drug development and the identification and validation of protein biomarkers. The core of the CCMS technology consists of tri-functional small molecules called Capture Compounds™.  These Capture Compounds enable the direct isolation and identification of selected functional subsets of proteins, including membrane proteins, out of any complex biological sample including the use of whole intact cells in solution.

An important application of the CCMS technology is to profile small molecule drug - protein interactions in the human proteome to discover or confirm relevant protein drug targets, the mode of drug action, and off-target proteins potentially causing adverse side effects in humans.  This profiling information can then be used to structurally optimize drug molecules (enhanced binding to target or/and reduced toxicity) and to monitor the success of those structural changes in determining the new protein profile through CCMS experiments.  The unbiased approach of CCMS also discovers unexpected novel targets of a drug candidate potentially offering applications in different and important medical indications (drug re-profiling/re-purposing).

The company is involved in research collaborations with leading pharmaceutical, agrobiochemical and biotech companies applying its CCMS technology to evaluate and optimize drug candidates in the human proteome prior to entering clinical trials.

About caprotec bioanalytics GmbH

caprotec bioanalytics GmbH is headquartered in Berlin, Germany . The company focuses on the commercialization of its proprietary Capture Compound Mass Spectrometry (CCMS) technology in the areas of proteomics, drug development and development of protein biomarkers.

The company holds a vast portfolio of issued patents world-wide. The technology has been validated in all three fields of application and has been described in experimental detail in many peer-reviewed publications.  caprotec is supported by an international scientific advisory board including a Nobel Laureate.

SOURCE caprotec bioanalytics GmbH