Phylogica lines up EU patent for Phylomer screening

Phylogica (ASX:PYC) has lined up a European patent covering its core drug discovery intellectual property.

The company has received a notice of allowance for a patent covering the screening of Phylomer peptides in mammalian cells to identify new disease targets and predict potential pathways of drug resistance.

The Phylomer libraries can be used to screen for peptides that can prevent cell death, a method commonly used in the pharmaceutical industry to map disease pathways, identify disease-associated targets and characterise their vulnerabilities to drugs.

“Such screening approaches can provide invaluable insight into the mechanisms underlying diseases such as cancer and can help identify new drug targets,” Phylogica CEO Richard Hopkins commented.

He noted that several of the most important targets for cancer have been discovered using these screening methods.

“Evidence suggests the Phylomers will function as very powerful tools to probe the intracellular landscape for targets in a manner that will prove more informative than conventional phenotypic screening methods,” Hopkins said.

“In addition, the patented method also provides a means for anticipating whether cancer might have a way of evading a particular therapy through exploiting escape pathways to become resistant to a drug.”

Securing the patent will grant Phylogica protection for its key IP in Europe until at least 2025.

Phylogica (ASX:PYC) shares were trading 4.17% lower at $0.023 as of around 2.30 pm on Wednesday.