Boston Mountain Biotech Lands Rights to Lotus Protein Patent
by January 20, 2015 4:07 pm 207 views
Boston Mountain Biotech, founded by University of Arkansas doctoral graduate and chemical engineer Ellen Brune, announced Tuesday it holds the exclusive rights to commercialize and use a patented protein purification system that makes it easier to produce pharmaceuticals.
The patent for the technology — Seperatome-based protein expression and purification platform — is owned jointly by the board of trustees of the University of Arkansas and the University of Pittsburgh, where the patented technology was developed.
“It’s a great milestone to hit,” Brune said of the validation from the United States Patent and Trademark Office. “If a patent is not awarded, you really don’t have much.”
Known as Lotus, the technology uses production-ready E. coli cell strains with minimal amounts of contaminant proteins, thus making it easier to find the target protein and separate it during the process of making a pharmaceutical. Boston Mountain’s market is protein pharmaceutical manufacturers, the makers of IV and injection drugs used in the treatment of serious ailments such as diabetes, arthritis and cancer.
“I have something tangible to sell,” Brune said. “Having exclusive rights to this patent strengthens our business model. We can tell potential customers that we have a unique and substantial product.”
The patent for Lotus serves as an umbrella for similar, additional products that are being developed in the Lotus portfolio.
Brune, along with Robert R. Beitle Jr., Mohammad M. Ataai, Patrick Bartlow, and Ralph L. Henry are listed as the inventors for US 8927231, issued Jan. 6.
Brune was a member of the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal’s Fast 15 class in 2014. To read the profile, click here.