MabVax Therapeutics Holdings, Inc., a clinical-stage oncology drug development company, announced that the company has been issued patent No. 9,475,874 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for its clinical stage HuMab5B1 fully-human monoclonal antibody that forms the basis for the company's MVT-5873 and MVT-2163 clinical development programs. Both programs are currently enrolling patients in phase 1 clinical trials.
MVT-5873 entered a phase 1 clinical trial in February of this year as a treatment for patients with locally advanced or metastatic adenocarcinoma of the pancreas and other malignancies that express the same cancer antigen, which is highly prevalent on many gastrointestinal cancers. The diagnostic version of the antibody, MVT-2163, entered a phase 1 clinical trial in July of this year as a next generation PET imaging agent for patients with pancreatic cancer. The company anticipates announcing interim results of both of these trials later this quarter regarding safety and targeting specifity to the cancer antigen.
The '874 patent is the first patent issued for the company's fully human monoclonal antibody discovered from its unique antibody discovery technology, which uses blood samples from patients vaccinated with selected tumor associated carbohydrate antigens. Through an exclusive license with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, MabVax received blood samples from patients who participated in phase 1 and 2 clinical vaccine trials. These samples were the starting material for the company's antibody discovery process resulting in a rich library of vaccine induced human antibodies, from which the company can select potential antibody candidates for development against several solid tumor cancers. The HuMab-5B1 antibody is the company's lead antibody development candidate that has reached the clinical stage. The company has additional antibodies for other antigen targets in preclinical development. The company has filed patent applications on several of its preclinical antibodies.
"We are pleased to have obtained a broad patent covering not only the antibody itself, but also the uses of the antibody as a therapeutic agent, imaging agent, and antibody-drug conjugate, thereby representing a platform for multiple applications," stated president and CEO David Hansen. "The patent also covers administration as a monotherapy and as well as with chemotherapeutic agents and also covers multiple types of cancers."
Hansen continued "This first patent is a foundation of our intellectual property estate for HuMab 5B1. We filed similar patent applications in most major healthcare markets across the world as part of our strategy to build a worldwide patent estate for our HuMab 5B1 program. Having this patent estate should add value to ultimately commercialize our products. Our HuMab-5B1 based products address a significant unmet medical need for new treatments in not only pancreatic cancer but also other cancers as well as to provide better tools to diagnose and stage the treatment of very difficult to treat cancers like pancreatic cancer."