BioVisioN AG Receives United States Patent for Peptide-Biomarker Discovery and Identification Technology.

HANOVER, Germany -- The patent office of the United States of America has granted the patent for BioVisioN's core technology, the "Differential Peptide Display(R)" (DPD), for the discovery and identification of peptide biomarkers. The methods of this German biotech company allow the analysis and comparison of peptides in any biological sample and represent the most important component of the company's Peptidomics(R) technologies. Peptides are being valued and intensely researched by the pharmaceutical industry because of their potential as biomarkers and drugs. BioVisioN has already received patents for the DPD-Technology in Europe and other important pharmaceutical markets.

Using mass spectrometry BioVisioN's Differential Peptide Display analyses virtual every peptide in clinical samples like blood or urine, offering sensitivities down to picograms per milliliter. Using bioinformatic software tools developed in-house, the quantitative comparison of hundreds of samples is possible, making the technology suitable for biomarker discovery within clinical trials. The comparison of samples from e.g. patients and healthy controls shows up quantitative differences in peptide content characteristic of the disease studied. This provides for the identification of new diagnostic markers or biomarkers and also therapeutic leads and targets.

"The decision of the US Patent Office is an important milestone for us", says Dr Rainer Voegeli, Chief Business Officer at BioVisioN. "We are now able to operate on the world's most important pharmaceutical market offering a proprietary technology. The patent protection opens up new opportunities for the marketing of our services and for the licensing out of our technologies to partner companies."

BioVisioN AG specialises in the identification of disease-relevant peptides and proteins using Peptidomics and Differential Peptide Display. The company was founded in 1997 by Dr. Peter Schulz-Knappe and Dr. Michael Schrader as a spin-off of the Lower Saxony Institute of Peptide Research and today employs 45 people. Apart from research collaborations, BioVisioN provides access to its technology also in fee-for-service contracts as a Biological Research Organisation.