Arecor Therapeutics plc
(“Arecor” or the “Group”)
Arecor granted patents in India and the United States protecting proprietary formulations of differentiated biopharmaceutical products
- Patents further strengthen Group’s extensive patent portfolio protecting its proprietary diabetes portfolio and demonstrate potential of innovative Arestat™ technology in development of enhanced formulations of high value biologics
Cambridge, UK, 16 February 2023: Arecor Therapeutics plc (AIM: AREC), the biopharmaceutical group advancing today’s therapies to enable healthier lives, is pleased to announce that the Indian Patent Office has granted a patent (IN412485) protecting novel formulations of the Group’s proprietary insulin products, AT247 and AT278, until 2038. In addition, the United States Patent and Trademark Office has granted two patents (US11534402 and US11534403) protecting the Group’s novel formulations of high-concentration adalimumab until 2038.
Dr Jan Jezek, Chief Scientific Officer at Arecor, commented: “As we continue to successfully apply our Arestat™ technology to develop enhanced pharmaceutical products, it is crucial that we maintain strong IP protection, both for the fundamental features of our technology and for the final drug products. These three recently granted patents demonstrate the continued strength of Arecor’s IP portfolio, providing further protection for our differentiated in-house development products AT247 and AT278, as well as within competitive IP areas such as that surrounding adalimumab formulations. These patents further reinforce the strength of Arecor’s technology and expertise in valuable commercial areas such as inflammatory diseases and diabetes.”
The patent granted in India protects the formulations of Arecor’s clinical insulin candidates, AT247 and AT278, that have been designed to significantly accelerate insulin absorption post injection across a range of insulin concentrations and thus enable more effective management of blood glucose levels for people living with diabetes, particularly around difficult to manage mealtimes. The granted Indian patent is an important milestone in Arecor’s strategy to generate a strong protection through a combination of both narrow and broad interrelated IP rights that cover the features of these products, within key markets, adding to patents already granted in the US, South Korea and Japan.
Adalimumab, sold by AbbVie under the brand name Humira®, has been a blockbuster monoclonal antibody product since its launch in 2003, with the market shifting to use the high concentration version in the last few years. Formulating a high concentration version of adalimumab is technically challenging and further complicated by a complex patent landscape surrounding adalimumab formulations. Using its Arestat™ technology, Arecor has developed novel formulations enabling a high-concentration adalimumab product (100 mg/mL or higher) with excellent stability. The two granted US patents protect the novel formulation space enabling these formulations and follow earlier, similar patents, granted in Europe.
Arecor has invested in building a strong patent portfolio to protect the Arestat™ technology platform and its proprietary pipeline products. The Group’s intellectual property (IP) portfolio currently comprises 36 patent families, including >50 granted patents in Europe, the US and in other key territories. The recently granted patents represent an important addition to Arecor’s extensive IP portfolio.