On April 7, 2021 InDex Pharmaceuticals Holding AB (publ) reported that a patent covering 19 compounds from the company’s DIMS platform has been granted by the European Patent Office (Press release, InDex Pharmaceuticals, APR 7, 2021, View Source [SID1234577670]).
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InDex has a preclinical portfolio of more than 150 DNA-based ImmunoModulatory Sequences (DIMS), several of which are already protected by approved composition-of-matter patents. The new European patent, entitled Biologically active oligonucleotides capable of modulating the immune system (patent number 3165607), covers both the composition-of-matter and method-of-use of 19 different DIMS compounds for the treatment of inflammatory diseases, cancer and infectious diseases. The patent was filed in 2011 and provides an exclusivity period until December 2031, with the possibility of up to 5 years term extension after market approval.
"We continue the work to broaden our preclinical DIMS portfolio in parallel with the phase III clinical development of our lead drug candidate cobitolimod," said Peter Zerhouni, CEO of InDex Pharmaceuticals. "This patent has previously been granted in the US and Canada, and we are very pleased that also the European Patent Office confirms the novelty of our DIMS platform."
InDex’s DIMS compounds are synthetic oligonucleotides that function as immunomodulatory agents by targeting Toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9). DIMS mimic bacterial DNA, without being harmful, and stimulate immune cells to produce beneficial cytokines. This opens opportunities for the treatment of different immunological diseases, in which the immune responses are imbalanced. The company’s lead asset is the drug candidate cobitolimod, which is in late stage clinical development for the treatment of moderate to severe ulcerative colitis. Besides cobitolimod, InDex is testing a selected number of DIMS candidates in models of other inflammatory diseases. InDex has been awarded a grant of SEK 2.0 million for this development from the Swedish innovation agency Vinnova.