Discovery Laboratories Inc received a notice of allowance from the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for its US patent application number 11/326,885 titled 'Surfactant Treatment Regiment'.

The notice of allowance is the USPTO's official communication that the examination of the patent application has been successfully completed and that a patent will be issued. Once issued, the patent will provide broad coverage for methods of using pulmonary surfactant to treat infants at risk of developing bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD).

Robert Segal, senior vice president and chief medical officer of Discovery Labs and one of the inventors, commented, "We are very pleased with the USPTO's decision to grant the patent for treatment of infants at risk of developing BPD. This patent provides additional intellectual property protection to our KL4 surfactant technology. We plan to continue strengthening our patent portfolio around KL4 surfactant to include treatment of a wide range of respiratory disorders."

Surfactants are produced naturally in the lungs and are essential for breathing. Discovery Labs' novel proprietary KL4 surfactant technology produces a synthetic, peptide-containing surfactant that is structurally similar to pulmonary surfactant and is being developed in liquid, aerosol or lyophilized formulations.

Discovery Labs is a biotechnology company developing Surfactant Therapies for respiratory diseases.