New York, March 01, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Intrommune Therapeutics, a specialty biopharmaceutical company developing a patient-friendly platform for the treatment of food allergies, announced today that the U.S Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has granted U.S. Patent No. 9,271,899 entitled, “Methods, Articles and Kits for Allergic Desensitization, via the Oral Mucosa.” The issued patent includes claims to the approach of combining allergenic proteins with toothpaste.

These claims provide patent protection of the novel oral mucosal immunotherapy (OMIT) platform. OMIT enables regular administration of allergy immunotherapy to desensitize a patient to food allergies (including peanut allergy) while a user brushes their teeth. Intrommune Therapeutics has exclusive rights to license this intellectual property from Allovate Therapeutics to develop the OMIT platform for the treatment of food allergies.

Intrommune’s lead product, INT-301, is being developed for the treatment of peanut allergies. Peanut allergy is a potentially deadly disease which affects 1.5 million children at an estimated cost of $6.25 billion per year to families in the United States. There is currently no treatment for this condition.

Michael Nelson, JD, Co-Founder and CEO of Intrommune Therapeutics, stated, “The issuance of this key patent validates the novelty of the OMIT platform and enables us to move forward our development pipeline, starting with INT-301 for the treatment of peanut allergy. This news adds significant commercial value and sets the stage for future growth.”

The OMIT platform is expected to improve the delivery of allergy immunotherapy over other potential methods of food allergy immunotherapy by increasing the precision of treatment delivery and easing treatment adherence. OMIT delivers biologically active compounds to the areas of the oral mucosa that have the highest likelihood of initiating allergy desensitization. Targeted delivery of medication is expected to decrease the rate of local side effects, like eosinophilic esophagitis and gastrointestinal discomfort, and systemic adverse events, including potentially life-threatening anaphylaxis.

In addition to INT-301 for peanut allergy, Intrommune is developing the OMIT platform to treat other common food allergies. Eight common foods account for 90% of food allergies in the US: peanut, tree nut, milk, egg, wheat, soy, fish, and shellfish. Fifteen million Americans, including 6 million children, have one or more food allergies.

About Oral Mucosal Immunotherapy

Food allergies affect an estimated 15 million Americans, including 6 million children, and over 220 million people worldwide. Allergen-specific immunotherapy is the only treatment modality that targets the root cause of the disease, consistently exposing the allergy sufferer’s immune system to small amounts of allergen proteins to desensitize them to the allergens over time. There is currently no commercially-available allergy immunotherapy product for food allergies. Oral mucosal immunotherapy (OMIT) uses a specially formulated toothpaste to stabilize and deliver allergenic extracts to the areas of the oral cavity with the greatest potential for allergy desensitization. OMIT promises benefits including targeted delivery, simple administration, and ease of long-term patient adherence.

About Intrommune Therapeutics

Intrommune is developing the revolutionary oral mucosal immunotherapy (OMIT) treatment platform for food allergies. Intrommune’s lead product, INT-301, is expected to be a safe, effective and convenient therapy for patients who suffer from peanut allergy. OMIT is designed to deliver proteins, such as immunotherapeutic agents, to the immune system while the user brushes their teeth. OMIT is potentially a long-term, patient-friendly, disease-modifying solution for the 220 million people, including 9 million adults and 6 million children in the U.S., who suffer from this life-altering condition.