AVI BioPharma Issued Broad Composition of Matter Patent for PMOplus™ Chemistry Platform
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AVI BioPharma, Inc. has announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office issued AVI a composition of matter patent for its advanced generation of phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligonucleotide (PMO) chemistry called PMOplus™.
The patent, titled "Oligonucleotide Analogs Having Cationic Intersubunit Linkages" (No. 7943762), issued with broad composition of matter claims covering AVI's PMOplus chemistry.
The PMOplus chemical backbone builds on AVI's exclusive charge-neutral PMO technology with the selective addition of positive charges to enhance potency and broaden the utility of AVI's PMO chemistry platform in a range of applications.
"The issuance of this patent is a key component to our ongoing efforts to advance a range of programs utilizing our PMOplus technology, including two recently initiated Phase 1 trials for our Ebola and Marburg programs that have garnered almost $300 million in potential funding support from the U.S. Department of Defense," said Chris Garabedian, AVI's CEO and president.
Garabedian continued, "More broadly, the issuance of this patent represents another step in securing protection for the future development of our next generation morpholino chemistries, allowing us to confidently pursue new drug candidates for both internal development and development with potential collaborators and partners."
AVI recently initiated Phase 1 clinical investigations of two infectious disease drug candidates based on the PMOplus™ chemistry, AVI-6002 and AVI-6003, for Ebola and Marburg viruses, respectively.
AVI plans to advance a third drug candidate also based on the PMOplus™ chemistry, AVI-7100, into the clinic this quarter for the H1N1 influenza virus. AVI-6002 and AVI-6003 have demonstrated up to 80% and 100% survival rates in preclinical studies treating non-human primates infected with the Ebola and Marburg viruses, respectively.
AVI-7100 has demonstrated antiviral properties in preclinical studies of the H1N1 influenza virus. These programs have received support from the U.S. Department of Defense.
