VIRxSYS Issued U.S. Patents for its Lentiviral Vector and SMaRT RNA Platforms

VIRxSYS Corporation has announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has issued two patents to VIRxSYS for the Company's proprietary HIV-based lentiviral vector and Spliceosome Mediated RNA Trans-splicing (SMaRT™) platform technologies, bringing the number of U.S. patents awarded to VIRxSYS in 2011 to five.

The first newly issued patent, U.S. Patent No. 8,041,633, further broadens VIRxSYS's intellectual property for its lentiviral vector stable cell line-based large scale production capabilities.

This patent strengthens VIRxSYS's position as a leader in the clinical development of HIV-based lentiviral vectors.

The production methods covered by U.S. Patent No. 8,041,633 will be used for the later stage clinical production of our lead HIV therapeutic vaccine candidate, VRX1273.

With this new patent, VIRxSYS's lentiviral vector-based portfolio of intellectual property currently holds 63 patents in addition to a number of patent applications pending in the U.S. and worldwide.

The second issued patent, U.S. Patent No. 8,053,232, further strengthens and broadens VIRxSYS's ability to treat serious human diseases with its SMaRT technology platform, and in particular, patients with alpha-1-antitrypsin (AAT) deficiency.

With regards to clinical development with SMaRT, the Company is pushing forward the development of an innovative method of enhancing HDL (the good cholesterol) through the production of apolipoprotein A-I (apoA-I, the major protein component of HDL) in the liver.

With this new patent, the VIRxSYS's SMaRT-based portfolio of intellectual property currently holds 34 patents in addition to a number of patent applications pending in the U.S. and worldwide.

"These patents further strengthen our position as a leader in the clinical development of lentiviral vector-based vaccine and RNA therapies," said Lawrence Michaelis, MD, VIRxSYS CEO and Chairman of the Board.

"These patents are in an area of incredibly high commercial value for VIRxSYS. Our Lentiviral vector-based HIV therapeutic vaccine candidate, VRX1273, has the potential to revolutionize the treatment of HIV while our RNA-based HDL enhancing therapy, VRX1243, using our SMaRT technology, has the ability to overcome apoA-I deficiencies and eventually atherosclerosis."

U.S. Patent No. 8,043,611 represents the fourth U.S. patent issued to VIRxSYS in 2011.

This patent strengthens VIRxSYS's intellectual property coverage for its lentiviral vector stable cell line technology by optimizing transcript expression and minimizing toxicity associated with over expression of transgenes.

VIRxSYS will employ this stable cell line technology for the production of its lentiviral vector-based HIV therapeutic vaccine candidate, VRX1273.

U.S. Patent No. 8,053,232 represents the fifth U.S. patent issued to VIRxSYS in 2011. This patent further strengthens VIRxSYS's SMaRT-based intellectual property position.

Specifically, the patent covers the correction of alpha-1 antitrypsin genetic defects using SMaRT-based therapeutic constructs encoding corrective SERPINA1. Genetic defects in SERPINA1 are responsible for AAT deficiency.

The methods and compositions of the present invention can thus be used for correction of SERPINA1 defects and to reduce the accumulation of toxic AAT protein in liver cells.