U.S. Patent Office Expands Patent Protection for Moleculera Labs’ Diagnostic Panel for Neuropsychiatric Disorders

Moleculera Labs, Inc., an autoimmune neurobiology company, today
announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has expanded
the intellectual property protections covering the company’s Cunningham
Panel (Patent No. US 10,228,376 B2). Specifically, the USPTO added human
serotonin receptors 5HT2A and 5HT2C to the covered molecular targets,
broadening the panel’s use to a wider range of neuropsychiatric targets
and conditions with an underlying autoimmune origin.

“The Cunningham Panel can help identify the level of autoimmune
antibodies associated with neuropsychiatric disorders and the capability
they have to stimulate and trigger neurologic behavior,” said Craig
Shimasaki, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Moleculera
Labs. “The panel was originally developed from research at the
University of Oklahoma as an aid for physicians in diagnosing pediatric
acute-onset neuropsychiatric syndrome (PANS) and pediatric autoimmune
neuropsychiatric disorder associated with Streptococci infection
(PANDAS), and it is used today for this purpose by a growing number of
clinicians around the world. We are very pleased to have our I.P.
protection extended to these additional molecular targets, which we
believe could increase the Cunningham panel’s predictive treatment value
in a number of additional psychotropic disorders, as well as aid in drug
discovery and development.”

Research has increasingly pointed to a relationship between
infection-triggered inflammatory attacks on the brain and
neuropsychiatric conditions. Results of the Cunningham Panel assist
physicians in determining the likelihood that a patient’s
neuropsychiatric symptoms are due to an infection-triggered autoimmune
response, rather than a primary psychiatric disorder.

About Moleculera Labs

Moleculera Labs is a privately-held autoimmune neurobiology company
whose objective is to discover and deliver advanced testing services for
children and adults suffering from treatable autoimmune central nervous
system disorders. The company’s initial offering is the Cunningham
Panel™, a set of tests aimed at assisting clinicians in the diagnosis of
PANDAS and PANS, conditions associated with motor tics, obsessive
compulsive disorder (OCD), and sometimes autism spectrum disorders
(ASD), that researchers believe to be caused by an autoimmune response
triggered by common infections. Moleculera Labs is a technology spin-out
from the University of Oklahoma and operates a full CLIA (Clinical
Laboratory Improvement Amendment) and COLA (Commission on Laboratory
Accreditation) certified clinical laboratory in Oklahoma City where it
performs the Cunningham Panel for physicians and clinicians throughout
the United States and globally. For more information, please visit our
website at http://www.moleculeralabs.com.

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