PolyTherics Limited (“PolyTherics”), the biopharmaceuticals company dedicated to precision engineering of biologics to improve their pharmacokinetic properties, is delighted to announce that a second patent has been allowed covering the targeted PEGylation of proteins. Issued by the United States Patent Office, this allowance protects PolyTherics’ PEGylation technology in the two largest pharmaceutical markets in the world. This exciting news comes just two weeks after the allowance of the first patent within Europe.
The patent claims the use of a unique linker developed at PolyTherics that enables precision attachment of PEG to natural disulfide bonds in proteins. Trademarked as TheraPEG™, the technology allows proteins with proven therapeutic efficacy such as Interferons, erythropoietin and antibody fragments to remain active and potent in the body for longer, resulting in less frequent dosing without loss of biological activity. TheraPEG™ has been shown to be a highly efficient, reliable and cost effective process which complements the proven cost benefits of bacterial expression to produce therapeutic proteins.
Keith Powell, CEO of PolyTherics commented: “Having received the allowance of our first patent less than two weeks ago, it is a real thrill to have this second notification from the US Patent Office so quickly. In the space of time that the Wimbledon tennis championships have taken place, we have been given patent coverage in the two largest pharmaceutical markets in the world. This is a huge achievement for us and underpins both the novelty of our third generation pegylation technology and the quality of the underlying patent submission. The TheraPEG™ technology is already being used by several of our partners to develop and eventually commercialise therapeutic proteins in PEGylated form”.
About PolyTherics Ltd
Founded in 2002, PolyTherics is a spin-out company from Imperial College London and the London School of Pharmacy that is dedicated to using biomedical polymers to optimise pharmaceuticals for the treatment and cure of the world’s most important diseases.
PolyTherics has developed and patented an innovative approach to PEGylation, known as TheraPEG™, to prolong the half-life of proteins for use in drug development. PEGylation is the process by which Polyethylene Glycol (PEG) is attached to proteins and peptides to modify their pharmacokinetic properties for therapeutic application.
PEGylation increases the time that a compound remains in the bloodstream before being metabolised or excreted by the body, thereby improving its half-life and potentially reducing treatment frequency, decreasing side effects and improving patient compliance. For example, PEGylated interferon treatments for Hepatitis C can be administered once rather than three times per week.
Based in the London Bioscience Innovation Centre, PolyTherics received initial funding of £850,000 from the Wellcome Trust (now Catalyst Biomedia) and the Bloomsbury BioSeed Fund. The Company secured a further investment of £2.3 million from Imperial Innovations Group plc, Longbow Capital LLP and The Capital Fund in June 2007.
