EMERGING THERAPEUTIC POSSIBILITIES IN PRION DISEASES - PATENTS 1993-1998

Prion diseases have attracted a great deal of research over the past d ecade, in part due to the unusual, possibly unique, biology of prion p roteins, the agents probably responsible for their pathogenesis. Altho ugh rare, the uniformly fatal course of these neurological diseases, w hich occur in sporadic, inherited, and acquired/iatrogenic forms, has been a strong stimulus to the search for an understanding of their pat hogenesis in the hope of developing effective therapies. Herein we exa mine patents registered for prion diseases over the past five years an d evaluate the likelihood of their becoming clinically applicable trea tments for prion diseases.