arGEN-X announces grant of broad US patent covering its SIMPLE Antibody™ platform
Breda, the Netherlands, and Ghent, Belgium– arGEN-X, a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of highly differentiated human monoclonal antibody therapeutics has received its first Notice of Allowance from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in connection with a portfolio of patent filings related to its SIMPLE Antibody™ discovery platform.
The allowed application (U.S. Patent Application No. 12/497,239) provides uniquely broad composition of matter coverage for antibody molecules obtained with arGEN-X’ SIMPLE Antibody™ technology, the center piece of its suite of antibody technologies that are transforming the discovery and development of highly differentiated antibody therapeutics.
arGEN-X’ SIMPLE Antibody™ discovery engine consistently delivers human antibody leads of phenomenal functional diversity, even against extremely complex and highly conserved targets. SIMPLE Antibody™ leads routinely exhibit ultra-high affinities and potencies, outstanding manufacturability and ability to cross-react with species orthologs of targets, including mouse. This latter property is highly desirable as it enables well established preclinical safety and efficacy models to be utilized earlier and more widely in therapeutic antibody development.
arGEN-X’ SIMPLE Antibody™ platform is complemented by its NHance™ technology, which allows the selective tailoring of antibody residence time in the body. Together with POTELLIGENT® technology licensed from BioWa Inc., which boosts antibody-mediated cell killing properties, arGEN-X has outstanding capabilities in generating highly differentiated antibody therapeutics.
arGEN-X has already achieved industry validation for its SIMPLE Antibody™ platform through its collaboration with Eli Lilly on highly complex targets, its strategic alliance with Shire targeting rare diseases, and its first product out-licensing deal with China-based RuiYi.
The unrivalled productivity of its SIMPLE Antibody™ platform has enabled arGEN-X to develop a proprietary portfolio of four therapeutic programs targeting cancer and autoimmune diseases in just three years of operations. The most advanced, ARGX-110, targets CD70 and has a first in class, dual mode of action in hematologic and solid tumors as well as autoimmune disorders. ARGX-111, targeting c-Met on solid tumors, is uniquely differentiated through its triple mode of therapeutic action. ARGX-112 and Onco-003 are showing exciting potential in addressing complex targets in inflammatory disease and cancer respectively.
Prof. Hans de Haard, CSO of arGEN-X commenting on today’s announcement said: The USPTO’s decision to grant this important patent for our SIMPLE Antibody™ platform is a major value-enhancing milestone for arGEN-X. It marks a key step in securing a broad and unencumbered global IP position for our discovery technologies, which together provide us with unique capability to discover and develop highly differentiated human antibody therapeutics against diverse and complex disease targets.