UK’s most prolific inventor revealed

The UK’s most prolific inventor for 2017 has been named as Alex Powlesland, a research chemist at British biotech company Immunocore.

He is pioneering a new way to cure cancer using the body’s immune system, according to the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys (CIPA), in a statement released yesterday,  December 21.

Powlesland was named as the inventor on 33 international patent applications by Immunocore this year.

CIPA said that Powlesland and his colleagues are developing different ways of targeting specific cancers that are either hard to treat or have a low survival rate.

According to CIPA, Immunocore’s ImmTAC (immune mobilising monoclonal T-cell receptors against cancer) molecules are bispecific molecules composed of an engineered, potent, soluble TCR with the ability to recognise and selectively bind to cancer cells.

CIPA said Immunocore’s therapeutics have broad applicability across a wide range of diseases, including solid tumours—which have previously proved difficult to treat with other immunotherapies—and infectious diseases including HIV, Hepatitis B and Tuberculosis.

Powlesland said it has been “incredibly exciting and rewarding to see the dramatic improvements in the health of patients” starting their treatment on clinical trials.

He added that there has been “massive financial investment in this technology” and that “our patent strategy is essential in protecting the products that are transforming our patients’ lives”.

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