Aridis Pharmaceuticals, headquartered in San Jose, California, announced it had added broad patent coverage of two of its product candidate monoclonal antibodies.
Aridis Pharmaceuticals, headquartered in San Jose, California, announced it has added broad patent coverage of two of its product candidate monoclonal antibodies.
Aridis focuses on developing novel, differentiated therapies for infectious diseases. It does so by developing monoclonal antibodies from patients that respond to various infectious agents. The company has three clinical stage monoclonal antibodies and three more preclinical anti-infective drug candidates.
The company has received broader patent protection for two of its product candidates, AR-201 and AR-401. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued a patent for AR-401, an antibody that targets a number of infectious organisms, including Gram-negative bacteria, Acinetobacter baumannii (A. baumannii), which has been associated with pneumonia, bacteria, and skin and soft tissue infections. Its additional patent is expected to provide protection to at least 2032.
The USPTO granted the company additional patents for AR-201, a monoclonal antibody against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). This virus causes lower respiratory tract infections and hospital visits during infancy and childhood. This is expected to add protection until 2034. There are now seven patents or patents pending for AR-201.
“Using fully human mAbs as an immunotherapy for the treatment of severe, potentially life-threatening infections is a novel approach that has demonstrated encouraging results in safety and efficacy in mid-stage clinical trials, potentially resulting in improved medical outcomes,” said Vu Truong, founder and chief executive officer of Aridis, in a statement. “Ensuring a strong intellectual property position around our various mAbs is fundamental to advancing our clinical and preclinical programs, and the claims granted in these particular patents speak to the novelty of our science.”
On August 13, Aridis announced the pricing of its initial public offering (IPO). It is trading on the Nasdaq under the symbol ARDS. The initial price was $13 per share. It is currently trading for $13.19.
Earlier this year, the company formed a subsidiary, a joint venture with China’s Shenzhen Hepalink Pharmaceutical Group, to develop and acquire regulatory approval for Aridis’ mAb therapies for the China market. The subsidiary is named Shenzhen Arimab Biopharmaceuticals and is headquartered in Shenzhen, China.
“We believe Aridis’s mAbs address important health issues facing China today,” said Li Li, Hepalink’s president and chairman, in a February 2018 statement. “Hospital-acquired bacterial infections are associated with high patient mortality and high cost to our healthcare system. The persistence and spread of drug-resistant strains severely limits the utility of currently approved treatments. The mission of our jointly owned company will be to deliver powerful, innovative anti-infective tools by demonstrating the clinical efficacy of AR-301 and AR-101 and seeking regulatory approvals as efficiently as possible.”
AR-301 is a fully human IgG1 mAb that targets S. aureus, making it active against infections caused by both MRSA and MSSA. AR-101 is an mAb against P. aeruginosa, which is the cause of hospital-acquired infections worldwide, but which have a higher incidence in China.
In today’s announcement, Aridis noted that AR-401 has patents issued in Australia, China, and Europe, with additional patents pending in Canada, China (divisional), Japan (divisional) and the U.S. (divisional). The AR-201 patents or pending patents are in the U.S., Canada, China, India and Europe.
“These allowances further broaden and strengthen our patent estate; comprised of 10 distinct patent families that cover our products and technologies,” Truong stated. “Collectively, Aridis has worldwide exclusive rights to more than 110 issued patents and patents pending.”
