CollaGenex Pharmaceuticals Inc. announced that the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has published on its website that the company's patent application No. 10/117,709 will issue on May 1, 2007 as US Patent No. 7,211,267 (the '267 Oracea(R) Patent).

This patent covers the use of sub-antimicrobial doses of tetracyclines, including Oracea, for the treatment of acne and acne rosacea. The USPTO published a notice of allowance of the '267 Oracea Patent in November 2006. CollaGenex received FDA approval for Oracea in May 2006 and is currently marketing Oracea to the US dermatology community.

Colin W Stewart, president and chief executive officer of CollaGenex, stated, "We are very pleased that an issuance date for our '267 Oracea Patent has been scheduled by the USPTO. This patent considerably strengthens our intellectual property covering Oracea and is not due to expire until April 2022."

CollaGenex PharmaceuticalsInc. is a specialty pharmaceutical company currently focused on developing and marketing innovative proprietary medical therapies to the dermatology market. In July 2006, CollaGenex launched Oracea, the first FDA-approved systemic product for the treatment of rosacea. Following recent positive results of a phase II dose-finding study that determined a safe and effective dose for the treatment of acne, the Company is conducting a dose-optimisation study for its second dermatology candidate, incyclinide.