Cell Therapeutics, Inc. (CTI), a biopharmaceutical company, reported that it has received a Notice of Allowance from the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for a patent application directed to increasing the plasma half-life of therapeutic proteins and peptides by recombinantly conjugating them to a novel, non-immunogenic peptide repeat sequence.

The patent and its related technology are exclusively licensed to Washington based, Aequus Biopharma, Inc. (Aequus), a majority owned subsidiary of CTI, for the purpose of development and commercialization. The patent application entitled "Conjugates of biologically active proteins having a modified in vivo half-life" has also been filed in other regions and countries, including Europe and Japan. Corresponding patents have been granted in New Zealand, South Africa and Singapore.

“This US Patent Allowance is an important milestone for Aequus and its development of the GlycoPolymer technology,” said Stewart D Chipman, Ph.D., president and CSO of Aequus. “We believe that this technology has the potential to significantly streamline the development of first-in-class therapeutic proteins and peptides, as well as extend the half-life of existing therapeutic proteins and peptides to improve their therapeutic profile through less frequent dosing, resulting in improved patient compliance. Our lead programme, AQB-101, is a novel glycoprotein with G-CSF-like activity that demonstrates an extended plasma half-life. Aequus is currently generating in vivo data to demonstrate AQB-101's utility, and we look forward to further development of AQB-101 and the GlycoPolymer technology,” Dr Chipman concluded.