Chemistry: molecular biology and microbiology – Measuring or testing process involving enzymes or... – Involving nucleic acid
Reexamination Certificate
2001-09-24
2003-03-25
Jones, W. Gary (Department: 1655)
Chemistry: molecular biology and microbiology
Measuring or testing process involving enzymes or...
Involving nucleic acid
C435S091100, C435S091200, C536S022100, C536S024300, C514S100000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06537759
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This application concerns the field of mammalian therapeutics and the selection of therapeutic regimens utilizing host genetic information, including gene sequence variances within the human genome in human populations.
The rate of approval of new drugs that enter human clinical trials is less than 20%, despite demonstrated efficacy of said new drugs in preclinical models of human disease. In some instances the low response rate in humans is due to genetic heterogeneity in the drug target or the pathway mediating the action of the drug. Identification of the genetic causes of variable drug response would allow more rational clinical development of drugs. Further, many drugs or other treatments approved for use in humans are known to have highly variable safety and efficacy in different individuals. A consequence of such variability is that a given drug or other treatment may be highly effective in one individual, and ineffective or not well tolerated in another individual. Thus, administration of such a drug to an individual in whom the drug would be ineffective would result in wasted cost and time during which the patient's condition may significantly worsen. Also, administration of a drug to an individual in whom the drug would not be tolerated could result in a direct worsening of the patient's condition and could even result in the patient's death.
For some drugs, up to 99% of the measurable variation in selected pharmacokinetic parameters has been shown to be inherited, or associated with genetic factors. Studies have also demonstrated a significant genetic component to pharmacodynamic variation. For a limited number of drugs, discrete gene sequence variances have been identified in specific genes that are involved in drug action, and these variances have been shown to account for the variable efficacy or safety of the drug in different individuals.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is concerned generally with the field of treatment of diseases and conditions in mammals, particularly in humans. It is concerned with the genetic basis of inter-patient variation in response to therapy, including drug therapy. Specifically, this invention describes the identification of gene sequence variances useful in the field of therapeutics for optimizing efficacy and safety of drug therapy for specific diseases or conditions and for establishing diagnostic tests useful for improving the development and use of pharmaceutical products in the clinic. Methods for identifying genetic variances and determining their utility in the selection of optimal therapy for specific patients are also described, along with probes and related materials which are useful, for example, in identifying the presence of a particular gene sequence variance in cells of an individual. The genes involved in the present invention are those listed in a pathway, gene table, list or example herein.
The inventors have determined that the identification of gene sequence variances within genes that may be involved in drug action is important for determining whether genetic variances account for variable drug efficacy and safety and for determining whether a given drug or other therapy may be safe and effective in an individual patient. Provided in this invention are identifications of genes and sequence variances which can be useful in connection with predicting differences in response to treatment and selection of appropriate treatment of a disease or condition. Such genes and variances have utility in pharmacogenetic association studies and diagnostic tests to improve the use of certain drugs or other therapies including, but not limited to, the drug classes and specific drugs identified in the 1999 Physicians' Desk Reference (53rd edition), Medical Economics Data, 1998, or the 1995 United States Pharmacopeia XXIII National Formulary XVIII, Interpharm Press, 1994, or other sources as described below.
The terms “disease” or “condition” are commonly recognized in the art and designate the presence of signs and/or symptoms in an individual or patient that are generally recognized as abnormal. Diseases or conditions may be diagnosed and categorized based on pathological changes. Signs may include any objective evidence of a disease such as changes that are evident by physical examination of a patient or the results of diagnostic tests which may include, among others, laboratory tests to determine the presence of variances or variant forms of certain genes in a patient. Symptoms are subjective evidence of disease or a patients condition—i.e. the patients perception of an abnormal condition that differs from normal function, sensation, or appearance, which may include, without limitations, physical disabilities, morbidity, pain, and other changes from the normal condition experienced by an individual. Various diseases or conditions include, but are not limited to, those categorized in standard textbooks of medicine including, without limitation, textbooks of nutrition, allopathic, homeopathic, and osteopathic medicine. In certain aspects of this invention, the disease or condition is selected from the group consisting of the types of diseases listed in standard texts such as Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine (14th Ed) by Anthony S. Fauci, Eugene Braunwald, Kurt J. Isselbacher, et al. (Editors), McGraw Hill, 1997, or Robbins Pathologic Basis of Disease (6th edition) by Ramzi S. Cotran, Vinay Kumar, Tucker Collins & Stanley L. Robbins, W B Saunders Co., 1998, or the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: Dsm-IV (4th Ed), American Psychiatric Press, 1994 or other texts described below.
In connection with the methods of this invention, unless otherwise indicated, the term “suffering from a disease or condition” means that a person is either presently subject to the signs and symptoms, or is more likely to develop such signs and symptoms than a normal person in the population. Thus, for example, a person suffering from a condition can include a developing fetus, a person subject to a treatment or environmental condition which enhances the likelihood of developing the signs or symptoms of a condition, or a person who is being given or will be given a treatment which increase the likelihood of the person developing a particular condition. For example, tardive dyskinesia is associated with long-term use of anti-psychotics; gastrointestinal symptoms, alopecia and bone marrow suppression are associated with cancer chemotherapeutic regimens, and immunosuppression is associated with agents to limit graft rejection following transplantation. Thus, methods of the present invention which relate to treatments of patients (e.g., methods for selecting a treatment, selecting a patient for a treatment, and methods of treating a disease or condition in a patient) can include primary treatments directed to a presently active disease or condition, secondary treatments which are intended to cause a biological effect relevant to a primary treatment, and prophylactic treatments intended to delay, reduce, or prevent the development of a disease or condition, as well as treatments intended to cause the development of a condition different from that which would have been likely to develop in the absence of the treatment.
The term “therapy” refers to a process which is intended to produce a beneficial change in the condition of a mammal, e.g., a human, often referred to as a patient. A beneficial change can, for example, include one or more of: restoration of function, reduction of symptoms, limitation or retardation of progression of a disease, disorder, or condition or prevention, limitation or retardation of deterioration of a patient's condition, disease or disorder. Such therapy can involve, for example, nutritional modifications, administration of radiation, administration of a drug, behavioral modifications and combinations of these, among others.
The term “drug” as used herein refers to a chemical entity or biological product, or combination of chemical
Chakrabarti Arun K.
Jones W. Gary
Variagenics Inc.
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