Australian cell therapy company Chimeric Therapeutics (ASX:CHM) has announced that the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has allowed the issuance of a patent application covering the company's CHM CDH17 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) technology.
The allowed patent application 17/050,299, entitled 'Compositions and Methods for Retrieving Tumour-related Antibodies and Antigens', provides intellectual property protection for Chimeric's CHM CDH17 CAR-T therapy, which targets CDH17, a protein highly expressed on gastrointestinal cancer cells associated with poor prognosis and metastasis.
The company said the allowed patent is expected to provide protection until at least 2039.
The technology is currently in a first-in-human Phase 1/2 clinical trial at leading US cancer centres, including the Sarah Cannon Research Institute, the University of Pennsylvania, and UChicago Medicine.
Preclinical studies published in Nature Cancer have shown CHM CDH17 CAR-T's capability to eradicate tumours across multiple cancer models while sparing healthy tissue.
Chimeric CEO Dr Rebecca McQualter said, "The allowance of this US patent significantly strengthens our intellectual property portfolio and provides critical commercial protection in the world's largest healthcare market. It highlights our commitment to developing pioneering CAR-T therapies and is a pivotal milestone in advancing CHM CDH17 CAR-T therapy toward commercialisation for gastrointestinal cancer patients."