Invalidity dossier
US 5607677
Glucan drug delivery system and adjuvant
Current assignee: Alpha Beta Technology Inc
Added 9/21/2026, 10:47:09 AM
Active provider: DeepSeek · deepseek-flash
Patent summary
Title, assignee, inventors, filing/issue dates, abstract, and a plain-language overview of the claims.
Patent Overview — US5607677A
Title: "Glucan drug delivery system and adjuvant"
Patent number / application: US5607677A; application US07/778,177, filed 1990-06-14.
Priority date: 1989-06-15.
Publication (grant) date: 1997-03-04.
Inventors: Spiros Jamas, Gary R. Ostroff, and D. Davidson Easson, Jr.
Original assignee: Alpha Beta Technology Inc. The source also lists current assignees Alpha Beta Technology Inc and Biopolymer Engineering Inc.
Legal status: Expired – Lifetime; anticipated expiration 2014-03-04.
Purpose (plain language): The patent describes a pharmaceutical composition pairing "whole glucan particles" with a pharmacologically active substance, such as a drug or antigen. Whole glucan particles are described as very pure β-glucan preparations that retain the in vivo three-dimensional, hollow morphology of the yeast cell walls from which they are derived.
Scope (plain language): The drug or antigen may be (1) contained within (encapsulated/entrapped in) the particles, (2) uniformly dispersed with them, or (3) chemically linked to them. Entrapped drug is released through the glucan matrix into the physiological environment. The β-glucan simultaneously acts as an adjuvant—enhancing immune response, targeting the drug to macrophages/antigen-presenting cells, and prolonging in vivo half-life by protecting against degradation and rapid clearance. The source describes the composition as a "two phase system" of whole glucan particles plus a drug or antigen, and states the invention further provides a method of administering a drug or antigen while simultaneously boosting immune response. Water-holding capacity is said to be controllable by modifying β-glucan structure (e.g., branching). Figures 1–7 are described as showing release rates (proteins of varying molecular weight, BSA, crosslinking effects with Cytochrome-C) and antibody-titer comparisons (BSA, P55; mixed vs. cross-linked).
What the excerpt does not establish: It does not provide claim language, the full specification, examples, or data values; the excerpt states it is partial ("consult the source for omitted text"). Dates are labeled assumed priority/publication dates in the source. Ownership-transfer, security-agreement, and litigation matters are outside this summary and were not researched.
Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/[US5607677](/patent/US5607677)/en
Generated 10/1/2026, 10:01:06 PM
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Litigation summary
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Proceedings on file (0)
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No PTAB proceedings on file. This patent has not been challenged via IPR, PGR, or CBM. The absence is itself a signal — well-asserted patents eventually attract IPRs. The LLM analysis below may surface filings the ODP feed hasn’t indexed yet.
PTAB challenges
AIA trial proceedings at the USPTO Patent Trial and Appeal Board — IPR, PGR, and CBM. Petitioners, judge panels, claim-level invalidation outcomes from Final Written Decisions, and Federal Circuit appeals. The single most important defensive datapoint after litigation history.
Assignment history
Inventors, original assignee, and the chain of ownership recorded with the USPTO — including the correspondent attorney who recorded each assignment, since shell-LLC chains often share one repeat-player attorney even when the entity names look unrelated. Surfaces NPE / patent-troll patterns: shell-entity transfers, known asserters in the chain, repeat correspondent fingerprints, pre-litigation assignments, and bankruptcy fire-sales.
Prior art
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Obviousness
Combinations of prior art that suggest the claimed invention would have been obvious under 35 U.S.C. § 103.
Extensions
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Derivative works
Defensive disclosure: derivative variations of each claim designed to render future incremental improvements obvious or non-novel.