WAKEFIELD, MA / June 21, 2023 Innovation Pharmaceuticals (OTCQB:IPIX) (“the Company”), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, today announced the United States Patent and Trade Office (USPTO), on June 6, 2023, granted a patent, “Host Defense Protein (HDP) Mimetics for Prophylaxis and/or Treatment of Inflammatory Diseases of the Gastrointestinal Tract,” and also recently issued a Notice of Allowance for the patent application, “Arylamide Compounds For Treatment Of Viral Infections.”
These allowed patents, which encompass Brilacidin protections through 2036 and 2041, respectively, further strengthen Brilacidin intellectual property rights previously granted in the U.S. and other regions. Brilacidin is a Host Defense Protein-mimetic drug candidate with broad-spectrum immunomodulatory and antimicrobial properties.
Related to the claims of these newly allowed patents, Brilacidin has been tested in Ulcerative Proctitis/Ulcerative Proctosigmoiditis (UP/UPS) (by rectal enema administration), where most patients achieved clinical remission, with further progress made in the development of an oral Brilacidin formulation for treatment of Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn’s Disease. The Company out-licensed Brilacidin in UP/UPS to Alfasigma S.p.A. Brilacidin has also been evaluated in Phase 2 testing in moderate-to-severe hospitalized cases of COVID-19 (by intravenous delivery), with beneficial treatment effects observed in patient subgroups. Biomarker-based trial design (enrollment tied to specific subgroups) has been highlighted by Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) scientists as a critical step to increase the likelihood of achieving clinical efficacy of investigational drugs in COVID-19 and Acute Lung Injury (ALI)/Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS).
A separate patent application has been submitted to the USPTO for use of Brilacidin in fungal diseases. Encouraging Brilacidin pre-clinical results (in vitro and in vivo) against multiple fungal infections have been achieved, as recently published in an article in Nature Communications, and based on in vitro screening studies conducted by independent researchers. Additional in vivo testing in efficacy models against two hard-to-treat fungal pathogens is scheduled for 3Q2023.