Palo Alto Investors announces today their intention to pledge the entirety of their healthcare related patent portfolio to the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) Longevity Grand Challenge Prizes and Awards.

In their letter, Palo Alto Investors states:

“This is a historic moment in the field of longevity medicine. The National Academy of Medicine (NAM), the highest governing body in the field of medicine in the United States, has embraced longevity as one of its grand challenges for the first time in history. In the furtherance of this mission, the NAM is developing the Longevity Grand Challenge Prizes and Awards (Prize), which will be a series of large scale challenge prizes to help pull innovation and foster breakthroughs in the field.”

“We are inspired by NAM’s pursuit of the Prize and what the Prize could achieve in advancing the field. We have committed $2 million as the seed sponsor of the Prize. In addition to this financial commitment, we are excited to announce today that we are pledging the healthcare related intellectual property we developed over the last two decades, embodied in a portfolio of issued and pending patents, to be used in a non-exclusive, royalty-free basis in conjunction with the Prize. The patents are being managed in conjunction with the nonprofit foundation Palo Alto Institute and the strategic IP management firm ClearAccessIP. Our objective is to share these assets with the community to facilitate scientific advancement, foster interdisciplinary collaboration, and ultimately accelerate development in the field of longevity.”

The following portfolios are highlighted as relating to the pledge:

1. Therapeutics that Increase Homeostatic Capacity

The subject methods are characterized by enhancing at least one symptom of the disease condition in a manner effective to cause the subject to mount a compensatory response effective to treat the disease condition. Also provided are compositions, kits and systems for practicing the subject methods.

Methods and compositions for treating a subject for obesity-hypoventilation syndrome, or related conditions, are provided. The subject methods include applying an electrical stimulus to a subject in a manner that modulates chest cavity capacity in a manner effective to treat the subject. Also provided are compositions, kits and systems for use in practicing the subject methods.

Methods for treating a renal associated condition in a subject are provided. Aspects of the subject methods include paradoxically enhancing renal sympathetic bias in the subject in a manner effective to treat the renal associated condition. Also provided are compositions, kits and systems for practicing the subject methods.

2. Therapeutics that Improve Control Systems

Methods are provided for treating a subject for a condition caused by an abnormality in the subject’s autonomic nervous system. In accordance with the subject methods, at least a portion of a subject’s autonomic nervous system is electrically modulated to increase the parasympathetic activity/sympathetic activity ratio in a manner that is effective to treat the subject for the condition. Certain embodiments include electrically modulating at least a portion of a subject’s autonomic nervous system by inhibiting and/or increasing activity in at least a portion of the subject’s autonomic nervous system. The subject methods find use in the treatment of a variety of different conditions, where such conditions include various disease conditions. Also provided are systems and kits for use in practicing the subject methods.

Aspects of the invention include inducing one or more physiological response selected from the group consisting of sweating, gastric emptying, enhanced heart rate variability and enhanced quantitative sensory test responsiveness in a manner sufficient to modify the autonomic nervous system so as to treat the subject for the disease condition. The methods and devices find use in a variety of applications, e.g. in the treatment of subjects suffering from conditions arising from disorders of the autonomic nervous system.

3. Methods of Treating Diseases of Atopy, Allergy, and Anaphylaxis

Methods for treating a subject for a parasympathetic bias mediated condition are provided. Aspects of the methods include modulating at least a portion of the subject’s autonomic nervous system to increase the sympathetic/parasympathetic activity ratio in a manner effective to treat the subject for the parasympathetic bias mediated condition. In some instances, the subject is known to have parasympathetic bias. Also provided are devices that find use in practicing various embodiments of the methods.

4. Method of Manufacturing Biologics

Methods of producing biological materials from cells and organisms are provided. Aspects of the methods include modulating the stress conditions of the cells and/or organism to produce biological materials having one or more desired properties. In certain aspects, the cell or organism is evaluated to detect the presence or absence of a stressed phenotype, wherein an unstressed phenotype may be produced before the cell or organism produces the biological material of interest. The biological materials produced from such cells and organisms may be used for a variety of applications, including therapeutic, research, and other applications.

5. Women’s Health: Cyclically Variant Therapy

In accordance with the subject methods, at least a portion of a subject’s autonomic nervous system is modulated during at least one predetermined phase of the subject’s menstrual cycle to alter the parasympathetic activity/sympathetic activity ratio in a manner that is effective to treat the subject for the condition. The subject methods find use in the treatment of a variety of different conditions, including various disease conditions, that increase in severity and/or occurrence during one or more phases of the menstrual cycle. Also provided are systems and kits for use in practicing the subject methods.

Five additional portfolios are included which range from fertility treatments to food science:

As scientists continue to break new ground in longevity research, there exists a growing opportunity and need for the exchange of intellectual property. ClearAccessIP is providing specialized management services to those wishing to expand their innovation strategy beyond the traditional “offense” and “defense” model. Each solution is designed to optimize for the reach and impact of the underlying invention.

If you would like to know more about the Longevity Patent Pledge or other opportunities, please contact nicole@clearaccessip.com.