Alchemia granted US patent

Brisbane-based drug discovery and development company Alchemia (ASX:ACL) has been granted a key US patent for its platform oncology technology.

The US patent, number 8,388,993, is seen as a development milestone for the company and provides US protection for the use of the company’s proprietary drug HA-Irinotecan in the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer.

Recruitment was recently completed for a Phase III trial of HA-Irinotecan.

The patent, titled Hyaluronan-Chemotherapeutic agent formulations for the treatment of colon cancer, also protects Alchemia’s HyACT drug delivery platform in its application to a range of other anticancer drugs that can be used in the treatment of drug-resistant colorectal cancer.

“This patent fits neatly in a suite of granted patents in other jurisdictions including Australia, Canada, China, Japan, Taiwan and Europe and will greatly enhance Alchemia’s efforts in commercialising HA-Irinotecan,” Alchemia’s VP of Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer, Dr Mike West, said.

Further US patent applications are currently pending. These applications are expected to further cement the company’s monopoly rights over the entire platform technology.

The patent, which has a term through to 13 July 2021, is presently awarded 846 days (about 2 1/3 years) of patent term adjustment.

Alchemia’s shares were trading at $0.35 at close of business on Friday.