Gammacan files two provisional patent applications for melanoma treatment

By Lisa Kerner

Erie, Pa., Feb. 28 - Gammacan International Inc. said it has filed two provisional applications for patents with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for a new malignant melanoma treatment.

Gammacan is considering an additional clinical trial to demonstrate the clinical efficacy of hyperimmune intravenous gammaglobulin (IVIg), sourced from patients with vitiligo, for treating melanoma, according to a company news release.

Vitiligo, present in 40 million to 50 million people worldwide, is a pigmentation disorder in which melanocytes in the skin, the mucous membranes and the retina are destroyed.

"The antibodies we have identified in the plasma of people with vitiligo possess the ability to bind to and destroy melanoma cells," Gammacan chief scientist Dr. Yehuda Shoenfeld said in the release.

Gammacan said the provisional patent filings strengthen the company's intellectual property position for the use of IVIg for cancer in general, and specifically, IVIg as a potential treatment for melanoma, the fastest-growing cancer in the United States.

Gammacan, located in Givat Shmuel, Israel, commercializes anticancer immunotherapy.

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