Patent filings boost Australia's BresaGen

Australian biotechnology company BresaGen has confirmed that it hasfiled two international patent applications in cell therapy which, it said, were a major addition to its intellectual property. The news lifted the company's share price, according to the Marketletter's local correspondent.

The first patent relates to a novel nerve stem cell (neurectoderm cell) and all nervous-system cell types that differentiate from this stem cell. The second covers the formation of a definitive ectoderm stem cell and cells derived from it, such as those in the skin, cornea, retina and other tissues of the eye.

The patent applications provided the technology for deriving all nerve and surface ectoderm cells to treat neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's, Huntingdon's, stroke, conditions requiring corneal or lens transplant and skin grafts for burn victims.