BLACKSBURG, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Techulon, Inc. announced today that its Glycofect™ Discovery and Therapeutic Delivery Platform has been awarded United States patent protection. The patented invention provides a new class of non-viral transfection vectors based on synthetic carbohydrate containing polyamides that can be used for both in vivo and in vitro applications. The patented material was created by Theresa Reineke, associate professor of chemistry in the College of Science at Virginia Tech while she was on faculty at the University of Cincinnati and is exclusively licensed to Techulon. Prof. Reineke's group has spent years developing new carbohydrate-based polymers for the delivery of genetic drugs to diseases. “This patent encompasses a family of synthetic polymers which are non-toxic and highly effective at delivering nucleic acids into mammalian cells. The major crux in nucleic acid therapies that alter or control gene expression and treat diseases at the genetic level is safely getting nucleic acids into cells. This suite of molecules gets us one step closer to overcoming this complex delivery problem and enabling customized powerful therapeutics capable of treating a myriad of devastating diseases,” Reineke said.
