U.S. Patent Office Expands Patent Protection for Moleculera Labs’ Diagnostic Panel for Neuropsychiatric Disorders

OKLAHOMA CITY--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Moleculera Labs, Inc., an autoimmune neurobiology company, today announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has expanded the intellectual property protections covering the company’s Cunningham Panel (Patent No. US 10,228,376 B2). Specifically, the USPTO added human serotonin receptors 5HT2A and 5HT2C to the covered molecular targets, broadening the panel’s use to a wider range of neuropsychiatric targets and conditions with an underlying autoimmune origin.

“The Cunningham Panel can help identify the level of autoimmune antibodies associated with neuropsychiatric disorders and the capability they have to stimulate and trigger neurologic behavior,” said Craig Shimasaki, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Moleculera Labs. “The panel was originally developed from research at the University of Oklahoma as an aid for physicians in diagnosing pediatric acute-onset neuropsychiatric syndrome (PANS) and pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorder associated with Streptococci infection (PANDAS), and it is used today for this purpose by a growing number of clinicians around the world. We are very pleased to have our I.P. protection extended to these additional molecular targets, which we believe could increase the Cunningham panel’s predictive treatment value in a number of additional psychotropic disorders, as well as aid in drug discovery and development.”

Research has increasingly pointed to a relationship between infection-triggered inflammatory attacks on the brain and neuropsychiatric conditions. Results of the Cunningham Panel assist physicians in determining the likelihood that a patient’s neuropsychiatric symptoms are due to an infection-triggered autoimmune response, rather than a primary psychiatric disorder.

About Moleculera Labs

Moleculera Labs is a privately-held autoimmune neurobiology company whose objective is to discover and deliver advanced testing services for children and adults suffering from treatable autoimmune central nervous system disorders. The company’s initial offering is the Cunningham Panel™, a set of tests aimed at assisting clinicians in the diagnosis of PANDAS and PANS, conditions associated with motor tics, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), and sometimes autism spectrum disorders (ASD), that researchers believe to be caused by an autoimmune response triggered by common infections. Moleculera Labs is a technology spin-out from the University of Oklahoma and operates a full CLIA (Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendment) and COLA (Commission on Laboratory Accreditation) certified clinical laboratory in Oklahoma City where it performs the Cunningham Panel for physicians and clinicians throughout the United States and globally. For more information, please visit our website at http://www.moleculeralabs.com.

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