Oncolytics Biotech Inc. (Oncolytics) announced that it has been granted its 31st US Patent, No. 7,476,382, entitled "Reovirus for the treatment of Neoplasia." The patent includes claims to pharmaceutical compositions containing reovirus.

"This US patent expands and strengthens our proprietary position for Reolysin," said Mary Ann Dillahunty, vice president of intellectual property for Oncolytics. "The pharmaceutical composition claims cover the formulation being used in our ongoing clinical trials."

Oncolytics is a Calgary-based biotechnology company focused on the development of oncolytic viruses as potential cancer therapeutics. Oncolytics' clinical program includes a variety of phase I/II and phase II human trials using Reolysin, its proprietary formulation of the human reovirus, alone and in combination with radiation or chemotherapy.