Rexahn Pharmaceuticals, Inc, a leader in innovative therapeutics for life-threatening and life-debilitating diseases, announced that the U S Patent & Trademark Office has issued a new cancer patent (US Patent 7,405,214) entitled, "Nucleoside Derivatives and Therapeutic Use Thereof," in support of the company's continued efforts to develop superior cancer treatments.

This is the fourth patent in oncology and strengthens the anticancer pipeline of the company. Earlier patents covering oncology target protein kinase Akt, transcription factor Hif-1 and oncogene product c-fos, respectively.

Chang H Ahn, chief executive officer of Rexahn Pharmaceuticals, commented, "We are excited about what this additional patent means for the future of Rexahn. The team has worked diligently to develop a strong product pipeline that will position Rexahn at the forefront of today's anticancer drug industry. With our leading cancer drug, Archexin currently in phase-II trials and seven additional anticancer drug candidates in various stages of research and trials, including our proprietary nanomedicines, we anticipate tremendous success in the cancer market in the years ahead."

The new patent covers Rexahn's cancer compound, RX-3117, a novel nucleoside chemotherapy agent, which is classified as an antimetabolite. In preclinical studies, RX-3117 demonstrated potent inhibition of cell proliferation of many solid tumour types, of drug-resistant cancer cells and of tumour growth in xenografted models. RX-3117 may be effectively used for treating major solid tumours, in particular, the drug-resistant tumours.

Rexahn Pharmaceuticals is a biopharmaceutical company leveraging its proprietary technology platform to discover, develop and commercialize innovative treatments for cancer, central nervous system disorders, sexual dysfunction and other unmet medical needs.