GenOdyssee has an IP-protected product source that is unique in the industry. GenOdyssee pioneered the vision that natural evolution may have led to the generation in the current population of unpredictable mutations that confer superior or novel therapeutic status to known human therapeutic proteins.
By utilizing high throughput analysis of natural genetic variation focused on genes coding for cytokines and cytokine receptors and pathways, GenOdyssee has identified a large number of naturally occurring variations of cytokines and growth factors.
GenOdyssee’s technology is protected by the international patent applications PCT/EP03/13695, EU 03 785 733, US 10/315,493, US 10/ 534,098, and is the sole property of the company. Such technology appears to be unique in the industry as demonstrated by a positive international examination report delivered by the EPO in 2005. The technology is applicable to a very broad range of proteins of potential use in human therapy across many disease areas and may provide a wealth of next-generation protein therapeutics.
Since 2001, because of the large and numerous possibilities of product applications from the approach invented by GenOdyssee, the company has been very aggressive in protecting in all major industrial territories its innovative discoveries sustained by its original identification procedure of "naturally optimised" therapeutic protein variants.

Both the method of use of natural genetic diversity for the discovery and development of natural agents with superior therapeutic utility, and the first therapeutic protein products discovered by the company have been protected and are today the sole property of GenOdyssee.
Granting in the EU, the US, as well as in Singapore or South-Africa of the company’s pipeline product patent applications has been received in 2006. The corresponding patent applications are also pending in all other major countries including Japan, Canada, Australia, Israel, China, India, Rep.Korea, etc.

Process patent applications (2 families)
WO04/042394: “Method for providing natural therapeutic agents with high therapeutic index”

Status: No prior art described in Europe and the USA; Positive opinion from the EPO in 2005; Published in Europe; pending in US and Canada

US 60/845,175 & US 60/846,730 (provisional): “Novel interferon alpha variant with improved inhibitory activity against HCV genotype 1 replication” Status: pending in the US

IFN Product patent applications (4 families)
PCT/EP02/04082; EP 1 379 695; US 2004132139: granted in Europe, France, Singapore, and South Africa; pending in US, Japan, Israel, India, China, Australia, Canada, and Rep. Korea.

PCT/EP02/05229; EP 1 390 543; US 2004110715: granted in Europe, France, Singapore, South Africa, and New Zealand; pending in US, Japan, Israel, India, China, Australia, Canada, Rep. Korea, Mexico, Norway, Russia, Ukraine, Brazil, ….

PCT/EP02/05458; EP 1 383 895; US 10/698,402: granted in France; published in Europe and the US; pending in Japan.

PCT/EP02/07456; EP 1 395 684; US 10/732485: granted in France; published in Europe and the US

Erythropoietin Product patent application (1 family) PCT/EP02/ 04331; EP 1 383 927; US2003/0050269: granted in France, US, Singapore, and South Africa; pending in Europe, Australia, Canada, China, Israel, India, and Rep.Korea

In 1999 and 2000, most companies and academic institutions working in the genetic variability area were looking for natural mutations that confer deleterious effects to corresponding host genes or proteins and would highlight an association of such genes to diseases of interest in the population. In particular, the industry was looking for mutations in the population to discover novel drug targets or diagnostic tools. GenOdyssee adopted a faster, more direct approach to discovery of new therapeutics. GenOdyssee’s drug discovery process has brought two main innovations to the industry:

• A new paradigm in genetic variation: screen representative human population DNA samples for genetic alterations conferring advantageous (not deleterious) pharmacological properties to host human genes.
• A direct drug (not drug target) identification process using natural genetic variability. Each human therapeutic protein variant showing superior pharmacological properties becomes a potential drug candidate.

GenOdyssee's product IP strategy derived from the findings made by the company that some novel human allelic variants of therapeutic cytokines identified using the company's proprietary drug discovery process demonstrate unprecedented and "non obvious " (innovative) pharmacological profiles. In other words, such pharmacological profiles appeared to be not predictable using prior art or state-of-the art gene or protein sequence variation analysis technologies:

• Non predictable level and/or slope (higher or lower) of activity variation. Examples: GEA007.1: 10 to 100 fold higher antiviral activity compared IFN alpha 2a or 2b; GO-EPO: up to 10 fold (erythroid cell proliferation assay) more potent than WT EPO
• Non predictable & brand new dissociation of pleiotropic activity spectrum. Example: GEA009.2: more potent immunomodulation profile while demonstrating improved tolerability, compared to IFN alpha 2

Patent Counsels in the US:
Mark Hofer, Partner, Brown Rudnick Berlack Israels (Boston, MA)

Robert Schulman, Partner, and Sam Vermont, Associate, Hunton & Williams (Washington DC)

Patent Counsels in Europe:
Thierry Caen, Associate, and Luc Santarelli from Santarelli (Paris, France).