Avila Therapeutics, Inc., a biotechnology company developing targeted covalent drugs that treat diseases through protein silencing, announced  that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has issued Patent No. 7,982,036, “4,6 Disubstituted Pyrimidines Useful as Kinase Inhibitors.” This patent covers compositions of matter for a particular class of targeted covalent drugs that selectively and irreversibly inhibit kinases such as members of the Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) family (including EGFR and Her2) and the Tec kinase family (including Bruton’s Tyrosine Kinase (Btk)), which were designed and tested by the company using its proprietary Avilomics platform.

These molecular targets play critical roles in important diseases such as cancer and those involving autoimmunity. Avila is developing its own therapeutic programmes based on this platform and has leveraged its intellectual property assets through alliances with Sanofi, Clovis Oncology, Inc. and the Novartis Option Fund.

“The Avilomics platform offers a unique approach to the design and development of targeted covalent drugs, and we’re creating the industry’s broadest portfolio of intellectual property to capture protection for large categories of chemical structures in this emerging class of medicines, as well as for the insights we use to produce them,” said Juswinder Singh, PhD, Avila’s Founder and chief scientific officer. “This issuance is an important milestone that marks our leadership in covalent drugs and acknowledges the truly innovative nature of our science.”

In addition to Dr Singh, Avila’s vice president of Drug Discovery, Russell Petter, PhD, is a co-inventor of this patent, which is owned exclusively by Avila and is in force through October, 2028. This patent is the first to issue from an extensive collection of patent applications filed by Avila and conceived to cover ownership of the Avilomics platform, the structures of large classes of targeted covalent drugs, and the specific therapeutic candidates under development by Avila and its partners.