On February 21, 2017 Oxis International, Inc. (OTCQB: OXIS) (OXIS.PA) parent company of Oxis Biotech, focused on the development and commercialization of immunotherapy for the treatment of cancer, reported it received notification from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office a patent will be issued on February 28, 2017 for its drug candidate OXIS-4235 for the treatment of myeloma (Press release, OXIS International, FEB 21, 2017, View Source [SID1234539555]).
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The patent clears the way for Oxis Biotech to begin the process of pursuing clinical trials for the new drug.
The drug is a P62-ZZ chemical inhibitor intended for use as a treatment for multiple myeloma. According to the American Cancer Society, more than 30,000 people are expected to be diagnosed with the disease this year and more than 12,000 are expected to die from it.
Dr. Sean Xie of Pittsburgh, Pa., developed the drug. The drug is intended to stop the growth of multiple myeloma cells without harming healthy cells. In addition to shrinking the tumors, the dual purpose drug is also intended to increase bone density, a second benefit of the technology.
Oxis Biotech, through its licensing agreement with Dr. Xie, holds the exclusive worldwide rights to commercialize this technology.
"Bone density shrinkage is one of the biggest problems of multiple myeloma. Bones wither away. This dual action drug is extremely promising," said Oxis CEO Anthony Cataldo. "We have always had great confidence in Dr. Xie’s work related to multiple myeloma. The issuance of this patent points out the unique and novel technology Dr. Xie has developed. We are incredibly happy to add it to our pipeline."
The USPTO indicated it will issue Patent No. 9,580,382 for the technology on February 28, 2017.