Algernon Pharmaceuticals Inc. (CSE:AGN, OTCQB:AGNPF) said it has received a Notice of Allowance from the Japanese Patent Office (JPO) for a patent application for its lead chronic kidney disease (CKD) program drug NP-251 (Repirinast).
The company said it has also filed corresponding patent applications in the US, Canada, Europe and China.
The invention is for the treatment of renal fibrosis or kidney disease with Repirinast, either alone or in combination with telmisartan, a medicine used to treat high blood pressure, heart failure, and diabetic kidney disease.
Algernon said Repirinast is its lead candidate for the treatment of CKD based on data showing it reduced fibrosis by 51% with statistical significance and showed an additive benefit to telmisartan in a unilateral ureteral obstruction mouse model.
“This is the first allowance notice received from the JPO by Algernon for one of the drugs being investigated under our innovative drug repurposing program and is further validation of our intellectual property strategy,” CEO Christopher Moreau said in a statement.
“What is also noteworthy, is that Repirinast was originally developed and approved in the Japanese market for the treatment of asthma and so this notice of allowance is even more meaningful.”
The company noted that Repirinast was originally developed by Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma and was sold and marketed in Japan under the brand name Romet for the treatment of Asthma. Romet was marketed for over 25 years in Japan before Mitsubishi discontinued manufacturing and sales of the drug in 2013. Accordingly, Algernon has retained Zhejiang Ausun Pharmaceutical in Zhejiang, China to manufacture a cGMP Repirinast supply.
Algernon Pharmaceuticals is a clinical-stage drug development and repurposing company investigating multiple drugs for unmet global medical needs. It has active research programs for IPF with chronic cough, and chronic kidney disease, and is the parent company of a newly created private subsidiary called Algernon NeuroScience which is advancing a psychedelic program investigating a proprietary form of psychedelic DMT for stroke and traumatic brain injury (TBI).
Contact the author at stephen.gunnion@proactiveinvestors.com