/ADVANCE/WASHINGTON, June 30 /PRNewswire/ via NewsEdge
Corporation -- Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO),
an organization that serves companies and inventors who own
patented inventions, is presenting the 26th annual National
Inventor of the Year award to Dr. Curt I. Civin of Johns
Hopkins University.
Dr. Civin invented a monoclonal antibody that binds to a
substance on human stem cells, useful in bone marrow
transplants. He also invented a biomedical process to isolate
the stem cell component of the blood immune system.
Lympho-hematopoietic "stem" cells are new cells that
develop into mature blood and immune cells. The antibody
invented by Dr. Civin makes it possible to separate stem cells
from mature cells. Stem cell transplants using bone marrow are
performed following high-dose chemotherapy in an effort to
restore a patient's blood and immune cell production. Civin's
cell selection system is intended to reduce tumor cells in the
transplant.
Primarily through clinical studies, about 10,000 patients
have received transplants of stem cells purified by using
monoclonal antibodies. Johns Hopkins University originally
licensed commercial rights to Becton Dickinson and Co., which
later sublicensed rights to Baxter International, Inc. and
Nexell Therapeutics Inc., a cell therapy company formed to
continue development of the technology. In January 1999,
Nexell announced the issuance of an approvable letter by the
U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its advanced stem cell
selection system based on Dr. Civin's invention. Upon final
approval, Nexell's cell selection system will be the only such
system commercially available in the United States.
Civin graduated from Amherst College and received his
medical degree from Harvard Medical School. After holding
medical positions in federal agencies, he joined the Johns
Hopkins faculty in 1979. He has lectured extensively and
published more than 135 articles, 35 chapters in medical
textbooks, and two medical books. He is inventor or
co-inventor for nine U.S. patents for biomedical inventions.
IPO is also honoring four inventors from Genentech and one
researcher from IBM with 1999 Distinguished Inventor Awards.
The Genentech inventors, Gordon A. Vehar, Richard M. Lawn,
Daniel J. Capon and William I. Wood, are recognized for their
1997 patent for "Preparation of Functional Human Factor VIII."
This biotechnological process enabled the supply of a
therapeutic product for the treatment of hemophilia A patients
that is free of HIV and hepatitis contamination. The invention
replaces the factor VIII that is missing or in low supply in
the blood of patients with hemophilia A. Without the factor,
the blood will not clot normally, and uncontrolled bleeding
will result.
From the late 1970s to the mid-1980's, about half of all
people with hemophilia became infected with HIV through blood
products derived from human plasma. Before 1990 virtually
everyone with hemophilia was infected with hepatitis. The
inventors utilized recombinant DNA technology to allow them to
produce factor VIII protein from a source other than human
plasma. This approach involves inserting the gene for human
factor VIII into a mammalian cell to make the desired
substance. Because this invention, recombinant human factor
VIII, is not derived from human plasma, the risk of
blood-borne viruses and contaminants is avoided. The invention
has been reduced to practice and is benefitting thousands of
individuals afflicted with hemophilia, enabling them to lead
productive and normal lives. Vehar and Wood are presently
staff scientists with Genentech, Inc. Capon is currently
affiliated with ViroLogic and Genetic Information Systems,
both companies he founded, and Lawn has worked with CV
Therapeutics since 1998.
Bernard S. Meyerson, Director of Telecommunications
Technology, IBM Corporation, is also being recognized as a
Distinguished Inventor. Mr. Meyerson's invention is covered in
patents issued in 1994 and 1997 that provide the method and
apparatus for high-volume manufacturing of silicon germanium
(SiGe) transistors. Silicon germanium (SiGe) devices are
capable of operating faster and with lower power requirements
than common silicon devices. SiGe transistors are ideally
suited for wireless communications and leading-edge digital
applications. IBM believes these devices "will likely become
the core chip technology enabling a wide variety of hand-held
communications and computing devices connected to voice and
data networks." SiGe technology is currently in commercial use
in a number of applications, such as in systems that use
optical fiber to transmit data at 10 billion bits per second
over 100-km distances, and for producing high-precision
equipment for commercial surveying in digital radio receivers
1/100th the size of conventional units. SiGe technology is
also being used in a chip set for a product that allows
computers to connect and automatically form networks without
cabling, and soon to be used in cellular telephone chip sets.
Industry analysts predicts the sales volume for SiGe products
to be about $2 billion dollars by 2005.
Past winners include some of the nation's best known
inventors, including John Cocke, an inventor of Reduced
Instruction Set Computing (RISC) for IBM Corp., and Amar G.
Bose, founder of Bose Corporation and inventor of loud speaker
systems. Other earlier winners include James L. Fergason for
his contributions to liquid crystal technology, Robert Jarvik
for the Jarvik 7 artificial heart, and Paul Macready for a
human-powered flying machine.
The National Inventor of the Year award has been given each
year since 1974. Nominations are received from industry,
universities, government and independent inventors.
IPO Executive Director Herbert C. Wamsley is urging the
media to pay more attention to American inventors who are
pushing forward the frontiers of technology. According to
Wamsley, "Our inventors are a national resource. We should
encourage them to give us a continuing stream of new products
to strengthen the economy and improve our standard of living."
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OWNERS ASSOCIATION (IPO)
An Association Serving Owners of Patents, Trademarks,
Copyrights, and Trade Secrets
WHAT: Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO)--A
non-profit association with programs to improve patent,
copyright, trademark, and trade secret laws. Working to
protect and improve the intellectual property systems that are
vital to America's technological and economic leadership by
combining the voices of large, medium and small businesses,
independent inventors, authors, and patent attorneys.
A resource providing up-to-the-minute information on
intellectual property-related bills and all intellectual
property issues.
WHY: To help America maintain technological and economic
leadership by safeguarding the intellectual property systems
that give vital incentives to technological innovation,
creativity, and business investment.
WHERE: Intellectual Property Owners Association
1255 Twenty-Third Street, NW
Suite 200
Washington, DC 20037
(202) 466-2396 (telephone)
(202) 466-2893 (fax)
info@ipo.org
www.ipo.org
WHO: President--Norman L. Balmer, chief intellectual
property counsel, Union Carbide Corporation
Vice President-Ronald L. Myrick, chief general patent
counsel, General Electric Company
Executive Director--Herbert C. Wamsley, formerly with the
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
SOURCE Intellectual Property Owners Association
/CONTACT: Amanda Newell of Intellectual Property Owners
Association, 202-466-2396/
[Copyright 1999, PR Newswire]
