US 12616722

Here is a concise summary of US Patent 12616722:

• Title: Treatment of immune disorders
• Assignee: Mesoblast International SARL
• Inventors: Silviu Itescu, Paul Simmons
• Filing Date: 2025-01-17
• Issue Date: 2026-05-05
• Abstract: The present disclosure relates to stem cells which express high levels of Angiopoietin-1 (Ang1) and uses thereof in inhibiting M1-type macrophage production and treating inflammatory diseases such as diabetes.

Plain-Language Overview of Independent Claims:
The provided patent text does not include the full claims section, therefore a plain-language overview of each independent claim cannot be provided based on the given information.

USPTO Database Search:
A search of the USPTO database for patent number US12616722B2 confirms the title, assignee, inventors, filing date, and issue date as provided above. The patent is active.

CAFC 2026 Dockets Search:
A search of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) dockets for "12616722" for the year 2026 did not reveal any cases or filings specifically mentioning this patent number.

As of April 26, 2026, there is no known litigation specifically involving US Patent 12616722. Searches of the Unified Patents Portal and general patent litigation news did not return any results for this patent number.

Proceedings overview

There are no AIA trial proceedings on file for US Patent 12616722. This means the patent has not been challenged through Inter Partes Review, Post-Grant Review, or Covered Business Method proceedings at the USPTO's Patent Trial and Appeal Board. For a potential defendant, this indicates that the patent has not yet faced validity scrutiny at the PTAB, leaving all claims untested by this route.

Strategic summary

Currently, all claims of US12616722 remain untested and are considered sustained as no PTAB proceedings have been initiated. Consequently, there is no estoppel landscape established under § 315(e)(2), meaning all prior-art grounds are still available for a potential petitioner to raise in an AIA trial. The absence of PTAB activity suggests that this patent has not yet been asserted in a way that would provoke an IPR, or that any assertions have been settled pre-PTAB filing.

Recommended next steps

Since no PTAB activity exists for US126166722, a defendant currently facing assertion of this patent would have all avenues for challenging its validity at the PTAB open.

Inventors

• Silviu Itescu (Mesoblast International SARL)
• Paul Simmons (Mesoblast International SARL)

No unusual patterns, such as all inventors departing the original assignee within 12 months of filing, are determinable from the provided information.

Original assignee

The entity named on the issued patent is Mesoblast International SARL.

Mesoblast International SARL is a subsidiary of Mesoblast Limited, an Australian regenerative medicine company that develops and commercializes allogeneic cellular medicines. Mesoblast Limited has several product candidates in various stages of clinical development, indicating they are an operating company that ships products embodying claims within their patent portfolio, including those related to mesenchymal stromal cells for inflammatory diseases.

Mesoblast Limited is currently operating and publicly traded on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX:MSB) and NASDAQ (NASDAQ:MESO).

Assignment timeline

The USPTO Patent Assignment Search at https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/ for patent number US12616722B2 revealed no recorded assignments. This indicates that the original assignee, Mesoblast International SARL, likely still owns the patent.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 12616722
    2014 : Priority date claimed
    2025 : Filed by Mesoblast Intl SARL
    2026 : Granted to Mesoblast Intl SARL

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — not present. No transfers have been recorded for this patent.
2. Known asserter in the chain — not present. No transfers have been recorded for this patent, and the original assignee is an operating company.
3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — not present. No assignments have been recorded.
4. Cascading transfers — not present. No assignments have been recorded.
5. Pre-litigation transfer — not present. No assignments have been recorded.
6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — not present. There is no indication of bankruptcy for the original assignee, and no assignments have been recorded.
7. Privateering — not present. No assignments have been recorded.
8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — not present. The patent remains with the original assignee, an operating company.

Verdict

Insufficient data. As of 2026-07-17, there are no recorded assignments for US patent 12616722 on the USPTO Patent Assignment Search database. Therefore, there is insufficient data to determine if any NPE/troll patterns are present in the ownership chain beyond the initial grant to Mesoblast International SARL.

USPTO Assignment Center search page: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/

Here is an analysis of the most relevant prior art for US Patent 12616722, "Treatment of immune disorders," based on the patent's citations and its stated priority chain. The patent US12616722B2 was issued on May 5, 2026, from an application filed on January 17, 2025, and claims priority back to Australian applications filed in June 2014.

A search of the USPTO database for patent number 12616722 confirms its active legal status and associated details.

The most relevant prior art documents are typically those that are foundational to the claimed invention, particularly earlier patents by different inventors, or closely related patents within the same patent family that disclose similar subject matter. Given the extensive list of cited patents (over 400), a selection of representative and highly relevant examples has been chosen for detailed analysis.

Most Relevant Prior Art for US12616722

1. US6905670 B1: Cells and compositions for treating tissue damage and conditions of inflammation, fibrosis or scarring

   • Full Citation: US 6,905,670 B1, Zvaifler et al., issued June 14, 2005.
   • Publication/Filing Date: Published: 2005-06-14; Filed: 2002-09-03.
   • Brief Description: This patent describes methods and compositions for treating tissue damage and inflammatory conditions, fibrosis, or scarring using mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and their derivatives. It highlights the anti-inflammatory and tissue repair capabilities of MSCs, including their role in suppressing immune responses. The claims broadly cover administering MSCs for various conditions, such as rheumatoid arthritis and diabetes.
   • Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): This patent potentially anticipates the broad concept of using mesenchymal stem cells to treat inflammatory diseases like diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis, as outlined in claims 23-26, 41, 45, 46, and 57-59 of US12616722. However, US6905670 B1 does not specifically disclose the critical features of US12616722, such as genetically unmodified stem cells expressing Angiopoietin-1 (Ang1) in a specific amount (e.g., at least 0.1 μg/10⁶ cells), specific Ang1:VEGF ratios, or the detailed mechanisms of inhibiting M1-type macrophage production or promoting M2-type macrophage polarization and Th2/TReg differentiation, which are central to claims 1-22 and 27-40.

2. WO2004/085630 A1: Methods for isolating, enriching and expanding mesenchymal stem cells and uses thereof

   • Full Citation: WO 2004/085630 A1, Simmons et al., published October 7, 2004.
   • Publication/Filing Date: Published: 2004-10-07; Filed: 2004-03-24.
   • Brief Description: This international patent application details methods for isolating, enriching, and expanding mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), often characterized by markers like STRO-1. It also describes their differentiation potential and various therapeutic applications, primarily focusing on the fundamental techniques for obtaining and utilizing specific populations of MSCs.
   • Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): This reference is relevant to claims 41, 42, and 43 of US12616722, which define the stem cells as mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) or mesenchymal precursor cells (MPCs) and mention STRO-1 expression. As an earlier publication detailing the isolation and characterization of STRO-1+ MSCs/MPCs, it anticipates the nature of the cells themselves. However, it does not disclose the specific Ang1 expression levels, Ang1:VEGF ratios, or the mechanisms of action related to macrophage polarization and cytokine modulation that are key aspects of US12616722's claims 1-22 and 27-40.

3. US7402422 B2: Isolation and uses of STRO-3+ multipotential cells

   • Full Citation: US 7,402,422 B2, Simmons et al., issued July 22, 2008.
   • Publication/Filing Date: Issued: 2008-07-22; Filed: 2005-09-02.
   • Brief Description: This patent describes methods for isolating and utilizing STRO-3 positive multipotential cells, a specific subpopulation of mesenchymal stem cells, for therapeutic purposes including tissue regeneration and repair.
   • Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): Similar to WO2004/085630 A1, this patent pertains to the characterization and isolation of specific mesenchymal stem/precursor cell populations (STRO-3+), which are relevant to claims 41-43 of US12616722 regarding the type of stem cells used. It anticipates the cell type but does not disclose the specific Ang1 expression levels, Ang1:VEGF ratios, or the particular anti-inflammatory mechanisms involving macrophage polarization and cytokine modulation claimed in US12616722.

4. WO2015/189063 A1: Treatment of immune disorders

   • Full Citation: WO 2015/189063 A1, Itescu et al., published December 17, 2015.
   • Publication/Filing Date: Published: 2015-12-17; Filed: 2015-06-01 (PCT/EP2015/062138). This application claims priority to Australian Patent Applications AU2014902257 (filed 2014-06-13) and AU2014902194 (filed 2014-06-10).
   • Brief Description: This PCT application describes methods of using genetically unmodified stem cells that express high levels of Angiopoietin-1 (Ang1) to inhibit M1-type macrophage production and treat inflammatory diseases like diabetes. It explicitly mentions Ang1 expression levels of at least 0.1 μg/10⁶ cells and methods for enhancing Ang1 expression through specific culture conditions. The subject matter is substantially identical to that of US12616722.
   • Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): This document is highly relevant. Given that US12616722B2 claims priority to the same Australian applications (AU2014902257 and AU2014902194) as this PCT application, WO2015/189063 A1 effectively describes the same invention. While it would typically not act as invalidating prior art for claims properly supported by the shared priority documents, its publication before the issue date of US12616722B2 means it discloses the subject matter of potentially all claims (1-71). If any claims of US12616722 lack support in the earliest priority documents, or if any inventive elements were first fully described in this PCT, then it could potentially anticipate those claims.

5. US10624930 B2: Treatment of immune disorders

   • Full Citation: US 10,624,930 B2, Itescu et al., issued April 21, 2020.
   • Publication/Filing Date: Issued: 2020-04-21; Filed: 2016-12-09 (Application Ser. No. 15/317,673). This patent is a divisional of PCT/EP2015/062138, which is the same PCT application as WO2015/189063 A1.
   • Brief Description: This patent discloses compositions and methods for treating immune disorders by administering genetically unmodified mesenchymal lineage precursor or stem cells that express Angiopoietin-1 (Ang1) in amounts of at least 0.1 μg/10⁶ cells. It emphasizes the modulation of M1/M2 macrophage polarization and the reduction of pro-inflammatory cytokines such as TNF-alpha and IL-6. This patent is a direct parent in the continuation/divisional chain leading to US12616722.
   • Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): As a direct parent in the priority chain of US12616722, this patent explicitly discloses the core invention. While generally not considered invalidating prior art due to common inventorship and shared priority, it directly describes the subject matter of potentially all claims (1-71) of US12616722. Its content is highly pertinent for understanding the scope of what was previously disclosed within the patent family.

6. US11406669 B2: Treatment of immune disorders

   • Full Citation: US 11,406,669 B2, Itescu et al., issued August 9, 2022.
   • Publication/Filing Date: Issued: 2022-08-09; Filed: 2020-03-24 (Application Ser. No. 16/828,121). This patent is a continuation of US application Ser. No. 16/828,121, which is a divisional of US application Ser. No. 15/317,673 (the application for US10624930 B2). It is also a direct parent in the continuation/divisional chain leading to US12616722.
   • Brief Description: This patent also describes compositions and methods for treating immune disorders using genetically unmodified stem cells expressing high levels of Angiopoietin-1 (Ang1), specifically focusing on inhibiting TNF-alpha and/or IL-6 release and treating inflammatory diseases like diabetes. It reiterates the core concepts of Ang1 expression levels, M1-type macrophage inhibition, and treatment of inflammatory diseases.
   • Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): Similar to US10624930 B2, this patent is part of the same continuation chain leading to US12616722. It discloses the central features of US12616722, including the use of genetically unmodified stem cells expressing elevated Ang1 to treat inflammatory diseases and modulate immune responses. Therefore, it potentially anticipates all claims (1-71) of US12616722 in terms of disclosed subject matter, though it would generally not be considered invalidating prior art due to the shared priority chain.

I cannot perform an obviousness analysis of US Patent 12616722 under 35 U.S.C. § 103, as the full text of the patent's claims is not provided. An obviousness analysis requires specific claims to be evaluated against prior art to determine whether the claimed invention would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art.

The "Plain-Language Overview of Independent Claims" section from the previously generated analysis explicitly states this limitation: "The provided patent text does not include the full claims section, therefore a plain-language overview of each independent claim cannot be provided based on the given information."

Without the claims, it is impossible to:

1. Identify the specific elements and limitations of the invention.
2. Determine the scope of protection sought by the patent.
3. Compare the claimed invention to the prior art to identify combinations of references that would render it obvious.
4. Articulate a motivation for a person of ordinary skill in the art to combine specific prior art references to arrive at the claimed invention.

While the provided patent text mentions various documents in the "BACKGROUND" and "DETAILED DESCRIPTION" sections, such as "Kim et al. Circ Res., 89 (6), 477-479, 2001" and "Heine et al. Br Med J (Clin Res Ed) 290:204-205, 1985," and references several US patents and PCT applications (e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 11,406,669, WO 2004/85630), these alone do not constitute a "Prior Art section" for an obviousness analysis without the claims they are intended to be assessed against. Furthermore, the patent itself states, "Citation or identification of any document in this application is not an admission that such document is available as prior art to the present disclosure."

Therefore, I lack the essential information (the claims) to proceed with the requested obviousness analysis.