Newton, MA, May 09, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ProteoThera, Inc., a biotechnology company with a platform technology for local, targeted drug delivery, announced today that a notice of allowance has been received from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for a patent entitled “Targeted Therapeutics,” to which ProteoThera has exclusive worldwide rights through its existing agreement with Brigham and Women's Hospital. The allowed patent describes composition-of-matter claims covering fusions of the ProteoThera matrix-binding sequences with any active therapeutic agent. The resulting matrix-binding therapies are designed to deliver drugs to targeted tissues where they are retained for an extended residence time, thereby maximizing local therapeutic effect, and mitigating the side effects associated with systemic exposure.
“This patent provides broad coverage of our innovative technology, which we have leveraged to date in the development of therapeutic matrix-binding peptides initially for acute joint pain,” said Patrick O’Donnell, chief executive officer at ProteoThera, Inc. “The allowance of this patent substantially strengthens the value of our technology, which comes at an opportune time, as the Company has embarked upon a $5M seed financing to fund further clinical development of our osteoarthritis and acute gout pain injection therapies."
The new patent contains 27 claims covering a variety of compositions of matter containing ProteoThera's proprietary matrix-binding peptides. A patent based on this application has already been granted by the Japanese Patent Office, and multiple related applications are in international prosecution.
Dr. Parth Patwari, an inventor of the technology and the chief scientific officer at ProteoThera, Inc., added, “This patent reflects the continued leadership of ProteoThera in the development of technology that allows drugs to remain in the tissues where they are needed to be effective. With two fundamental patents allowed, and four major families of patent applications still in prosecution, ProteoThera is building a substantial intellectual property estate.”
About ProteoThera, Inc.
Located in Newton, Massachusetts, ProteoThera, Inc. is a privately held, early stage biotechnology company that is advancing drug targeting technology. The Company's transformative platform, a proprietary tissue matrix-binding (MB) protein fusion technology, is being developed to improve clinical efficacy and safety of FDA-approved and validated therapeutics for the treatment of auto-inflammatory diseases and in tissue regeneration. The Company’s internal developments are currently focused on the combined $5B osteoarthritis and acute gout injection therapies markets.
The MB targeting technology was developed at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. The MB technology can generate new pharmacokinetic profiles for therapies, transforming systemically delivered drugs into locally delivered proteins, peptides, and small molecules. ProteoThera’s focus on previously validated or approved therapies greatly de-risks the clinical, regulatory, and commercial pathways. By keeping therapies where they are needed to enable therapeutic effect, the MB platform may also improve the safety profile by reducing or eliminating side effects associated with whole-body systemic exposure.