U.S. Patent No. 10,780,052 (‘052) B2, issued on September 22, 2020, to inventors Frank DeRosa, Michael Heartlein, and Shirang Karve of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and applicant/assignee, Translate Bio, Inc., of Lexington, Massachusetts. The ‘052 patent claims priority to a provisional application filed October 22, 2013.
The claims are directed to a method of therapeutic delivery of messenger RNA (mRNA) to the central nervou system comprising an administration of a mRNA encoded protein and a cationic lipid, specifically eKK-E12.
The following is from claim 3, showing the eKK-E12 lipid:
A sequence listing under MPEP 2424 was also filed during the prosecution. The GenBank GI numbers are 19444580-592.
The Cooperative Patent Classifications include A61K, preparations for medical, dental, or toilet purposes, namely, medicinal preparations containing genetic material which is inserted into cells of the living body to treat genetic diseases (48/00), preparations containing radioactive substances for use in therapy or testing in vivo (51/00), liposomes (9/127), and peptides having more than 20 amino acids from animals or humans (38/17); C07H, sugars, derivatives thereof, nucleosides, nucleotides, or nucleic acids, namely, compounds containing two or more mononucleotide units having separate phosphate or polyphosphate groups linked by saccharide radicals of nucleoside groups with ribosyl as saccharide radical (21/02); and C12N, microorganisms or enzymes, compositions propagating, preserving, or maintaining microorganisms, mutation or genetic engineering, namely, using microencapsulation (15/88).
The ‘052 patent represents one patent in the COVID-19 vaccine portfolio of Translate Bio, a mRNA therapeutics research company which has partnered with Sanofi Aventis on the MRT5500 vaccine. While the trials on the MRT5500 vaccine are not yet complete, and therefore, the vaccine is not yet in the market or been approved by the FDA, the application was filed back in 2017. No mention of the SARS-CoV-2 virus is made in the specification, but it therapeutic use in the MRT5500 vaccine is fairly ascertainable based on a reading of the ‘052 disclosure. The MRT5500 could conceivably be available sometime later in 2021.