InVivo Therapeutics Holdings Corp. (NVIV) today announced that it
has received a Notice of Allowance from the United States Patent and
Trademark Office (USPTO) for U.S. Patent Application No. 14/177,888,
titled “Methods and Compositions for the Treatment of Open and Closed
Wound Spinal Cord Injuries”. The application covers InVivo’s
Neuro-Spinal Scaffold, which is currently being studied in a pilot
clinical trial, and its Neuro-Spinal Scaffold combined with stem cells,
which is being developed for the treatment of chronic spinal cord
injury. InVivo is the exclusive licensee of this intellectual property
for spinal cord injury and other indications through a license with
Boston Children’s Hospital and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT). A notice of allowance from the USPTO is a written notification
that a patent application has cleared internal review and is pending
issuance.
Dr. Bob Langer, the first named inventor on the patent application, is
one of 11 Institute Professors (the highest honor that can be awarded to
a faculty member) at MIT and one of five living Americans to be awarded
both the United States National Medal of Science and the United States
National Medal of Technology and Innovation. Dr. Langer, who is an
InVivo co-founder and Scientific Advisory Board member, said, “This
notice of allowance is a significant milestone for InVivo. I am always
very pleased to see my research and inventions move forward into the
clinic and eventually the market. It is a great pleasure to be working
with the current InVivo leadership team, and I have full confidence that
they will maximize the clinical and commercial value of these important
assets.”
Mark Perrin, InVivo Chief Executive Officer, said, “This notice of
allowance for a key patent that covers both compositions of matter and
methods of use is a principal component of InVivo’s intellectual
property portfolio. We at InVivo are dedicated to building a strong
intellectual property estate around all of our products. The Boston
Children’s Hospital/MIT license is the foundation of InVivo’s
intellectual property portfolio, and we are working diligently to create
additional layers of protection through inventions and discoveries that
have been made and continue to be made at InVivo.”
About InVivo Therapeutics
InVivo Therapeutics Holdings Corp. is a pioneering biomaterials and
biotechnology company with a focus on treatment of spinal cord injuries.
The company was founded in 2005 with proprietary technology co-invented
by Robert Langer, ScD., Professor at Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, and Joseph P. Vacanti, MD, who then was at Boston Children’s
Hospital and now is affiliated with Massachusetts General Hospital. In
2011 the company earned the David S. Apple Award from the American
Spinal Injury Association for its outstanding contribution to spinal
cord injury medicine. The publicly-traded company is headquartered in
Cambridge, MA. For more details, visit www.invivotherapeutics.com.
Safe Harbor Statement
Any statements contained in this press release that do not describe
historical facts may constitute forward-looking statements within the
meaning of the federal securities laws. These statements can be
identified by words such as "believe," "anticipate," "intend,"
"estimate," "will," "may," "should," "expect" and
similar expressions, and include statements regarding the Company’s
expectations with respect to the anticipated issuance of the patent, as
the patent may be delayed in issuing, or may not ultimately issue at
all. Any forward-looking statements contained herein are based on
current expectations, and are subject to a number of risks and
uncertainties. Factors that could cause actual future results to differ
materially from current expectations include, but are not limited to,
risks and uncertainties relating to the Company’s ability to
successfully build and protect its intellectual property portfolio; the
Company’s ability to obtain FDA approval to commercialize its products;
the Company’s ability to develop, market and sell products based on its
technology; the expected benefits and efficacy of the Company’s products
and technology in connection with spinal cord injuries; the availability
of substantial additional funding for the Company to continue its
operations and to conduct research and development, clinical studies and
future product commercialization; and other risks associated with the
Company’s business, research, product development, regulatory approval,
marketing and distribution plans and strategies identified and described
in more detail in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year
ended December 31, 2013, as amended, and its other filings with the SEC,
including the Company’s Form 10-Qs and current reports on Form 8-K. The
Company does not undertake to update these forward-looking statements.
Copyright Business Wire 2014