Elan received a welcome boost this week as it was announced that the company had secured a key patent for its Alzheimer’s treatment.
Athlone-based company Elan, in partnership with biopharmaceutical company Transition Therapeutics Inc, were awarded the US patent by the United States Patent and Trademark Office on Tuesday this week.
The patent is entitled ‘Methods of Preventing, Treating and Diagnosing Disorders of Protein Aggregation’, and generally covers methods for treating Alzheimer’s disease involving the administration of scyllo-inositol (ELND005 ).
ELND005 is an orally-administered therapeutic agent that has received fast-track designation from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA ) for treatment of mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease.
The new patent will expire in the year 2025 or later if any patent term extensions are applied.
“The issue of this patent is an important milestone in the development of ELND005, a unique oral compound with a favourable safety profile that crosses the blood-brain barrier and targets the disaggregation of amyloid beta in the brain,” said Dr Tony Cruz, chairman and chief executive officer of Transition.
In 2006, Elan and Transition entered into an exclusive, worldwide collaboration agreement for the joint development and commercialisation of ELND005 for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and other indications.
