Prima's US patent for CVac allowed

Prima BioMed (ASX:PRR) is on the verge of receiving a US patent covering its anticancer technology CVac.

The US Patent and Trademark Office has issued a Notice of Allowance for Prima’s application for the patent. A Notice of Allowance indicates that the patent will be granted once the issue fee is paid.

The patent application protects the method of composition and use of CVac for the generation of a cytotoxic T cell response against the mucin-1 cancer antigen, which is overexpressed in a variety of cancer types.

The CVac immunotherapy process involves pulsing a patient’s dendritic cells with mucin-1, conjugated to oxidised mannan fusion protein, and reinjecting them into the patient in order to stimulate an immune response to the antigen.

“The allowance of this key USA patent is a significant milestone,” Prima CEO Matthew Lehman commented. “The grant of the USA patent would complete the granting of all pending applications relating to the company’s intellectual property portfolio.”

Prima is currently developing CVac for ovarian and pancreatic cancer. The company commenced recruitment for a phase II ovarian cancer trial last month and is preparing to commence a 40-patient pilot trial in the latter indication.

Prima BioMed (ASX:PRR) shares were trading 6.38% higher at $0.05 as of around 1.30 pm on Monday.