Circadian Technologies Limited (CIR) announced today the grant of United States Patent No. 7,829,091 to its subsidiary company, Vegenics Limited. The patent, which extends to September 2023, covers the use of inhibitors which block the binding of VEGF-C or VEGF-D to VEGFR-3 for the treatment of cancer. Inhibitors covered include any soluble forms of the VEGFR-3 receptor and any antibodies directed against VEGF-C, VEGF-D or VEGFR-3 which inhibit the binding of VEGF-C or VEGF-D to VEGFR-3.
The corresponding patent applications in Europe and Canada, which contain claims analogous to those granted in the US, have both been allowed as well. The European application will grant European Patent No. 1119371 on November, 24 2010. Canadian Patent No. 2345276 is expected to issue in the first half of 2011.
Circadian already controls worldwide rights to an extensive intellectual property portfolio covering the VEGF-C, VEGF-D and the VEGFR-3 receptor targets. Specifically, Circadian already has a two granted Australian patents in this family, AU 200013121 and AU 200408675, and continues to prosecute the case in Japan. The grant of this family of patents relating to anti-cancer uses provides a strong commercial underpinning to Circadian’s development of its proprietary VGX-100, VGX-200 and VGX-300 candidates as well as a major boost to Circadian’s already significant intellectual property position in this area of research and development. VGX-100 (a fully human VEGF-C antibody), VGX-200 (a humanised VEGF-D antibody) and VGX-300 (a recombinant VEGFR-3 molecule which works by trapping VEGF-C and VEGF-D in the circulation) are all being developed as cancer therapies. Additionally, Circadian’s licensee, Eli Lilly through its subsidiary ImClone Systems, is developing an antibody to VEGFR-3 (IMC-035), also for cancer therapy, which is expected to commence clinical trials in early 2011.
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