Starpharma to get China patent for Priostar

Starpharma (ASX:SPL) has secured a Chinese patent for a formulation of its Priostar dendrimers with agrochemicals including glyphosate.

The State Intellectual Property Office of China has agreed to grant a formulation patent to the company, strengthening its patent protection of dendrimers in agrochemical applications.

Glyphosate is a herbicide with global sales of over US$5 billion ($5.7 billion) in 2012. China produced over 600,000 tonnes of the chemical during that year, making it the world’s largest glyphosate producer.

Starpharma said Priostar dendrimers can enhance the performance of glyphosate formulations, particularly in hard-to-kill weeds.

This marks the first patent covering agrochemical applications for Priostar to be granted. It will likely be valid until 2030. Starpharma has filed applications in the other major agrochemical markets.

Last year two agrochemical producers, US-based Gowan Company and India’s Makhteshim Agan, arranged to evaluate adding Starpharma’s dendrimer synthetic nanoscale polymer technology to their products.

Starpharma (ASX:SPL) shares were trading 2.73% lower at $0.535 as of around 2 pm on Monday.