SUWON, Republic of Korea, Aug. 12, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- OliX Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (KOSDAQ: 226950), a leading developer of RNAi therapeutics, today announced that the Company has received a notice of allowance from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for OLX104C, an investigational therapeutic for the treatment of androgenic alopecia, also known as male pattern baldness.
Balding scalps are often associated with increased expression of the androgen receptor gene. The patent covers OliX’s proprietary technology, which reduces the expression of the androgen receptor and suppresses the hair loss process.
Male pattern baldness is a disease of genetic disposition and affects an estimated 50 million men in the United States and more than 50 percent of men over age 50.i It is thought that the enzyme 5-alpha reductase converts testosterone into dihydrotestosterone (DHT), and DHT acts on androgen receptor to gradually thin and cause hair loss around the crown and frontal area.
Existing hair loss treatments are usually accompanied by systemic side effects, such as sexual dysfunction and discomfort due to frequent administration. OLX104C is a long-lasting topical therapeutic that can potentially minimize systemic side effects as it is rapidly degraded upon exposure to blood.
“We are pleased to receive this notice of allowance from the USPTO which validates our novel approach to treating male pattern baldness,” said Dong Ki Lee, Ph.D., founder and chief executive officer of OliX Pharmaceuticals. “OliX is building a leading pipeline of RNAi therapeutics for dermatological conditions. We look forward to advancing development of OLX104C as quickly as possible given the millions of people who are affected by hair loss.”
About OliX Pharmaceuticals
OliX Pharmaceuticals is a clinical stage pharmaceutical company developing therapeutics against a variety of disorders by down-regulating expression of disease-causing genes, based on its own proprietary RNAi technology. The Company’s core RNAi platform, asymmetric siRNA (asiRNA), is a unique gene silencing technology based on RNA interference (RNAi), which is considered the most efficient gene silencing technology. Based on asiRNA technology, OliX has developed cell penetrating asiRNA (cp-asiRNA), a therapeutic RNAi platform to effectively target locally administrable diseases, such as hypertrophic scar, dry and wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD), subretinal fibrosis, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), and neuropathic pain. OliX has also developed another therapeutic RNAi platform, GalNAc-asiRNA, to target a variety of liver diseases. For more information, please visit: https://www.olixpharma.com/eng
Media Contact
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i Genetics Home Reference: Androgenetic Alopecia. U.S. National Library of Medicine. Updated August 18, 2020. Accessed August 9, 2021. https://medlineplus.gov/genetics/condition/androgenetic-alopecia/
