- Biotechnology company Immutep (IMM) has been granted a new patent by the United States Patent Office (USPO)
- The patent protects intellectual property relating to the company’s immunotherapy candidate, eftilagimod alpha, and a chemotherapy agent
- Immutep has already been granted corresponding patents for this by European, Australian, and Japanese patent authorities
- The patent’s expiry date is January 25, 2035, including 37 days of patent term adjustment
- Immutep shares are up 2.7 per cent on the market today, trading for 19 cents each
Biotechnology company, Immutep (IMM) has been granted a new patent by the United States Patent Office (USPO).
Patent number 10,736,940 is titled ‘Combined Preparations for the Treatment of Cancer.’ The patent protects Immutep’s intellectual property relating to a particular chemo-immunotherapy combination.
Specifically, it relates to combined therapeutic preparations, comprising the company’s lead active immunotherapy candidate, and a chemotherapy agent. In this case, the chemotherapy agent is either a platinum-based antineoplastic agent like oxaliplatin or carboplatin, or a topoisomerase I inhibitor like topotecan.
Immutep’s current lead product candidate is eftilagimod alpha, also known as efti, or IMP321. The soluble protein is based on the LAG-3 immune control mechanism, which is vital to regulating T-cell immune responses.
Efti is currently in a number of clinical trials which involve some form of chemotherapy or other cancer treatment. These include a phase IIb clinical trial, assessing efti as a chemotherapy for breast cancer.
Immutep is also conducting a phase two clinical trial in collaboration with Merck & Co, evaluating a combination of efti and KEYTRUDA (also known as pembrolizumab) against several different solid tumours. A phase one trial, conducted in collaboration with Merck KGaA and Pfizer, is evaluating a combination of efti and avelumab.
Finally, efti is being assessed in a phase one combination therapy trial against metastatic melanoma.
This new patent is Immutep’s latest step taken to protect efti in a range of new combination formats for chemo-immunotherapy and other immunotherapy settings.
The company has already been granted the corresponding patents for this by European, Australian, and Japanese patent authorities. Immutep announced the European and Australian patent grants last year on May 23 and June 21 respectively. The Japanese patent was announced much more recently, on May 7 of this year.
This latest patent from the United States has an expiry date of January 25, 2035. This date is inclusive of the 37-day patent term adjustment.
Immutep shares are up 2.7 per cent on the market today, trading for 19 cents each at 11:55 am AEST.