Alchemia granted new US fondaparinux patent

Alchemia Limited (ASX:ACL) has been granted a new US patent protecting the method it uses to manufacture its lead drug fondaparinux, a venous blood clot treatment.

The drug discovery company’s newest patent protects the monosaccharide building blocks it uses to synthesise generic fondaparinux sodium, a penetasaccharide molecule.

Alchemia VP of intellectual property, Michael West, said the company has now been granted two of the four US patents the company has applied for to protect the manufacturing process.

The branded version of fondaparinux is GlaxoSmithKline’s Arixtra, which has been off patent since 2002 in the US.

Alchemia's marketing partner, Dr Reddy's Laboratories, launched fondaparinux in the US in July last year.

Alchemia is also developing anti-cancer drugs based on its HyACT targeted cancer delivery platform. The lead product in this platform, HA-Irinotecan, is currently in phase III clinical trials in metastatic colorectal cancer. Enrolment in this trial commenced in January.

The company is also involved in a phase II trial in small cell lung cancer.

In November, Alchemia announced that subject to market conditions it will spin off its oncology business into the standalone Alchemia Oncology. If the spin-off occurs, the new business plans to list in Australia, the US or both.

Alchemia (ASX:ACL) shares fell 1.12% during Wednesday's trading to $0.440, after a 7.23% increase the day before, and opened at $0.435 this morning.