New BioSilicon patents granted

By Graeme O'Neill
Tuesday, 01 June, 2004

PerThe patents keep rolling in for Perth biotech-nanotech company Psivida (ASX:PSD), which has announced that the European Patent Office (EPO) has granted its UK operating subsidiary pSiMedica another patent on biodegradable silicon implants for drug delivery.

The new patent relates to non-toxic implants that can be synthesised with different structures and pore sizes so they release drugs at controlled rates and dosages as they dissolve.

Psivida MD Gavin Rezos said today the new patent builds on the company's broad claims, already granted by the EPO, for delivering drugs in a range of devices fabricated from its proprietary BioSilocon material.

Psivida has now been awarded seven patents in Europe and the US. It also announced that it has been granted two further patents in New Zealand.

One covers the use of BioSilicon for orally administered pharmaceutical products, including products for treating drug-overdose patients; the other involves fabricating hermetically sealed BioSilicon capsules.

Psivida has also been granted a patent in Singapore for the gastro-intestinal delivery of drugs incorporated in BioSilicon.