Biotechnology company Immutep Limited (ASX: IMM) has been granted a Patent for its “Combined Preparations for the Treatment of Cancer or Infection” by the US Patent & Trade Mark Office.
This United States patent follows the grant of the corresponding European patent announced in November 2018. The claims of the patent protect Immutep’s intellectual property relating to combined preparations comprising its lead active immunotherapy candidate and a PD-1 pathway inhibitor. In this case, the PD-1 pathway inhibitor is either pembrolizumab or nivolumab.
CEO, Marc Voigt, said this new patent is particularly significant as it covers the combination of active ingredients evaluated in the company’s phase II TACTI-002 and phase I TACTI-mel trials.
It also highlights the ongoing important steps being taken by the company to protect its lead product candidate in a range of novel and commercially relevant combination formats, in both immuno-oncology (IO)-IO and chemo-IO settings.
We are very pleased that this United States patent has been granted covering our lead product candidate, efti, in combination with key anti-PD-1 therapies,” Mr Voigt said.
“This is particularly so in view of the highly encouraging data we have seen from both our TACTI (Two Active Immunotherapies) trials which evaluate efti in combination with pembrolizumab. Furthermore, this new patent and our corresponding patents and patent applications in other key markets continue to underpin our ongoing investment in clinical development.
Immutep’s Chief Scientific Officer and Chief Medical Officer, Dr Frédéric Triebel, said the US patent grant represents another important milestone for the company, and along with the clinical data it has seen in its trials, supports the company’s long held view that combining efti with an anti-PD-1 checkpoint inhibitor should result in a very meaningful therapeutic benefit to cancer patients.
Immutep’s current lead product candidate is eftilagimod alpha (efti or IMP321), a soluble LAG-3 fusion protein (LAG-3Ig), which is a first-in-class antigen presenting cell (APC) activator being explored in cancer and infectious disease. Immutep is also developing an agonist of LAG-3 (IMP761) for autoimmune disease.
Additional LAG-3 products, including antibodies for immune response modulation, are being developed by Immutep’s large pharmaceutical partners.