Alchemia Patent Update
- Key patent granted in Japan
- First granting of antibody patents
Alchemia Limited (ASX:ACL) (Alchemia) has been granted a new Japanese patent covering its HyACT® platform, which has been shown to increase the effectiveness of cancer drugs. Alchemia's lead program using this technology, HA-Irinotecan, is about to enter a pivotal Phase III trial for the treatment of colorectal (bowel) cancer.
The patent, JP 2000-593339, entitled "A composition and method for the enhancement of the efficacy of drugs" is the most recent grant in the family of patents protecting Alchemia's HyACT® technology. Similar protection has already been granted in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, China, Taiwan and a number of European countries including Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.
"We are very pleased to secure IP protection for the important Japanese market where Irinotecan is widely used in the treatment of colorectal cancer. This patent family is integral in protecting the use of the HyACT® platform in conjunction with small molecule anticancer agents," said Alchemia CEO Dr Pete Smith.
Approval of the `enhanced efficacy' patent in Japan closely follows a number of other significant patent approvals in the HyACT® technology space. Canadian approvals for two related patent families "Improved therapeutic protocols" CA2,458,865 and "Hyaluronan as a cytotoxic agent, drug pre-sensitizer and chemosensitizer in the treatment of disease" CA2,382,560, were recently received. These patent families provide an additional level of protection for the HyACT® technology.
In parallel with its small molecule HyACT® program, Alchemia is aggressively exploring the use of its HyACT® platform for delivering antibodies and other larger biomolecules. This is expected to be a substantial opportunity, as effectiveness of HyACT® with such molecules would substantially increase the market potential of the HyACT® platform. Alchemia's key patent in antibody delivery - "Therapeutic compositions comprising hyaluronan and therapeutic antibodies as well as methods of treatment" - was recently granted in the Eurasian states and Israel. It is anticipated that additional patent approvals will follow in this family.
In a different approach to the treatment of cancers, Alchemia has developed antibodies to one of the central hyaluronan producing proteins in the body. The antibodies which target hyaluronan synthase have shown early potential in the treatment of cancer. Alchemia was recently granted a US patent (7,985,844) protecting these antibodies. Members of the same patent family were also granted in Australia and China.
Download this document
