The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has issued a notice of allowance for patent to La Jolla Pharmaceutical Company for its application number 13/888,305 covering compositions of modified pectin.

The patent, which expires in 2025 without taking into account patent term extension, provides proprietary protection for colloidal pectin solutions comprised of purified, modified pectin substantially free of molecular weights below 25 kD.

"These newly allowed claims further bolster our patent position for the use of modified pectin as therapeutic agents, and similar to our other issued patents, these claims cover pectin from all sources," said James Rolke, senior director of Research and Development at La Jolla and an inventor on the allowed patent application. "In addition, our pending patent applications will further expand our coverage of therapeutic modified pectins and their uses."

The Company's intellectual property portfolio also includes several issued patents covering various modified pectin compositions and methods for preparing biologically active modified pectins, as well as pending patent applications directed to additional modified pectin compositions and methods of use.

"We are committed to protecting our position as the leader in developing modified pectin therapeutics to treat severe, life-threatening diseases, including chronic diseases of the kidney, liver, heart, and lung, as well as cancer. Allowance of the additional broad patent coverage and having the lead inventor of this technology on our management team demonstrates La Jolla is well-positioned to maximize the potential benefit to patients and shareholders," stated George Tidmarsh, MD, Ph.D., president and chief executive officer of La Jolla.

Pectins are high molecular weight, complex polysaccharides that can be obtained from multiple sources (e.g., citrus, apple), all of which share a common basic structure comprising a block co-polymer of 1,4-linked galacturonic acid and 1-2-linked rhamnose with side branches of either 1,4-linked ß-D-galactose or 1,5-a-linked L-arabinose. In addition, some portion of the galacturonic acid backbone can be esterified or exist as the uronic acid salt.

The Company's lead product candidate GCS-100, which is being tested in a Phase 2 clinical trial in patients with chronic kidney disease, is covered by the allowed claims. GCS-100 is derived from pectin using our proprietary methods to control molecular weight and to enrich and expose the ß-D-galactose side chains. These galactose residues bind to and block the activity of galectin-3. Over-expression of galectin-3 has been implicated in a number of human diseases, including chronic organ failure and cancer. This makes modulation of the activity of galectin-3 an attractive target for therapy in these diseases.