Back to Archived News
Prana Secures Key Patent for Parkinson’s Drug PBT434 in the United States
Monday, November 28, 2011
Melbourne, Australia -- Prana Biotechnology (asx:PBT) today announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has issued a Notice of Allowance for a composition of matter patent for selected 8-hydroxy quinazolinone compounds, including its lead Parkinson's Disease (PD) drug candidate, PBT434, in the United States. The patent entitled 'Neurologically Active Compounds' also covers pharmaceutical compositions containing PBT434 and selected 8-hydroxy quinazolinone compounds.
Once granted, the United States patent has a twenty year term expiring June 7, 2026. This expiry date may in the future be further extended by the application of pharmaceutical extension of term provisions of up to five years in the United States.
Geoffrey Kempler, Prana's CEO, said, "Securing granted rights to our lead PD drug candidate furthers our commercialization plans for PBT434 for which Prana was recently awarded a grant from The Michael J. Fox Foundation to undertake preclinical development studies to enable human clinical trials."
PBT434 has been designed to prevent or slow the loss of the neurons of the substantia nigra that produce the chemical dopamine, the neurotransmitter that controls motor function in the brain. As a neuroprotective agent, PBT434 preserves critical interneuronal connections between the substantia nigra and the striatum (neurons which have dopamine receptors and transmit the signals to coordinate movement pathways and a variety of cognitive processes involving executive function). Experiments in two animal models of PD have shown that; in animals treated with PBT434, motor coordination and performance were significantly improved compared to untreated control animals, the characteristic accumulation of the disease associated protein alpha synuclein in the brains of PD animal models was reduced and that expression of a key genetic susceptibility factor, the antioxidant protein, DJ-1, was elevated in substantia nigra neurons.
About Prana Biotechnology Limited
Prana Biotechnology was established to commercialise research into Alzheimer's Disease and other major age-related neurodegenerative disorders. The Company was incorporated in 1997 and listed on the Australian Securities Exchange in March 2000 and listed on NASDAQ in September 2002. Researchers at prominent international institutions including The University of Melbourne, The Mental Health Research Institute (Melbourne) and Massachusetts General Hospital, a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School, contributed to the discovery of Prana's technology. For further information please visit the Company's web site at www.pranabio.com.
Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The Company has tried to identify such forward-looking statements by use of such words as "expects," "intends," "hopes," "anticipates," "believes," "could," "may," "evidences" and "estimates," and other similar expressions, but these words are not the exclusive means of identifying such statements. Such statements include, but are not limited to any statements relating to the Company's drug development program, including, but not limited to the initiation, progress and outcomes of clinical trials of the Company's drug development program, including, but not limited to, PBT2, and any other statements that are not historical facts. Such statements involve risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, those risks and uncertainties relating to the difficulties or delays in financing, development, testing, regulatory approval, production and marketing of the Company's drug components, including, but not limited to, PBT2, the ability of the Company to procure additional future sources of financing, unexpected adverse side effects or inadequate therapeutic efficacy of the Company's drug compounds, including, but not limited to, PBT2, that could slow or prevent products coming to market, the uncertainty of patent protection for the Company's intellectual property or trade secrets, including, but not limited to, the intellectual property relating to PBT2, and other risks detailed from time to time in the filings the Company makes with Securities and Exchange Commission including its annual reports on Form 20-F and its reports on Form 6-K. Such statements are based on management's current expectations, but actual results may differ materially due to various factions including those risks and uncertainties mentioned or referred to in this press release. Accordingly, you should not rely on those forward-looking statements as a prediction of actual future results.
Back to Archived News
