Patent ID: 7196073

Claim:
A polysaccharide conjugate consisting essentially of: (i) a polysaccharide having a minimum of two saccharides and which is selected from the group consisting of β-glucans, mannans, pectic polysaccharides and 2-acetamido glucan polysaccharides; and (ii) one or more molecules having an aldehyde or ketone group; wherein said one or more molecules are the same or different, and are selected from the group consisting of C 6-10 aryl aldehydes, C 6-10 aryl(C 1-4 , alkylaldehydes, C 1-4 alkyl(C 6-10 )aryl, aryl ketones, wherein said aryl ketone contains said ketone group as a substituent attached to an aryl moeity selected from the group consisting of thiophene, furan, benzothiophene, benzofuran, pyridine, quinoline, pyridazine, pyrimidine, pyrazole, imidazole, 1,2,3-triazole, 1,2,4-triazole, isoxazole and oxazole wherein said aldehyde or ketone group is capable of reacting with an amino group to form an imine; wherein polysaccharide (i) is attached to molecules (ii) through (iii) a direct covalent bond or covalently via a bifunctional linker in a manner that keeps the aldehyde or ketone group intact; or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof.