The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has granted US Patent No. 8,114,874  to ARIAD Pharmaceuticals Inc., entitled, “Substituted Acetylenic Imidazo[1,2-B] Pyridazine Compounds as Kinase Inhibitors,” which provides composition-of-matter patent protection through at least December 22, 2026 for ARIAD’s investigational pan-BCR-ABL inhibitor, ponatinib.

This new patent covers both the compound itself and its pharmaceutical compositions. Additional patent applications covering ponatinib in the US and in other countries are pending.

“We are delighted that the US Patent Office has acknowledged that the chemical space pioneered by our scientists and reflected by ponatinib is innovative and worthy of patent protection. We are preparing to file for US and European marketing authorizations of ponatinib in patients with resistant or intolerant chronic myeloid leukaemia and Philadelphia-chromosome positive acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in the third quarter of this year,” stated Harvey J Berger, MD, chairman and chief executive officer of ARIAD.

Ponatinib is an investigational pan-BCR-ABL inhibitor discovered by ARIAD scientists. BCR-ABL is an abnormal tyrosine kinase that is expressed in patients with CML and Philadelphia chromosome-positive acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (Ph+ ALL). Using ARIAD’s computational and structure-based drug design platform, ponatinib was designed to inhibit the activity of BCR-ABL with very high potency and broad specificity. Ponatinib targets not only native BCR-ABL but also its mutant isoforms that confer resistance to existing tyrosine kinase inhibitors, including the T315I mutation for which no effective therapy exists. Ponatinib is currently being evaluated in the pivotal phase II PACE trial in patients with resistant or intolerant CML and Ph+ ALL. Ponatinib also inhibits certain other tyrosine kinases, including FLT3, which is aberrantly activated in approximately one-third of patients with AML and the FGFR family of kinases, which are activated in subsets of patients with solid tumours.

ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of medicines to transform the lives of cancer patients.