Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - January 6, 2025) - Defence Therapeutics Inc. (CSE: DTC) (OTCQB: DTCFF) (FSE: DTC) ("Defence" or the "Company"), a Canadian biopharmaceutical company developing radiopharmaceuticals and ADC products using its proprietary platform and drug delivery technologies in addition to novel immune-oncology vaccines, is pleased to announce the further strengthening of its patent portfolio with several key patent issuances and allowances in multiple jurisdictions.
Upon Defence's striking discovery that multimers based on Accum® variants may exhibit synergistic efficacy and enhanced stability when compared to their monomeric counterparts, Defence filed US patent application no. 18/318,384 (the '384 application) in May 2023, along with a request for fast-track examination by the USPTO. Defence is now thrilled to announce that the USPTO issued a Notice of Allowance on October 17, 2024, with the US patent expected to issue in early 2025 upon payment of the requisite governmental fees. The allowance of the '384 application is noteworthy for Defence's current clinical programs and business strategy on several fronts. First, the allowed application contains valuable composition-of-matter claims covering Accum®-based dimers and multimers, which cover the molecular entities ready for clinical development under Defence's flagship AccuTOX® and ARM® anti-cancer programs. The claims cover the dimers and multimers used alone or conjugated to antigens, carriers, or antibodies, the latter of which is actively being investigated by Defence for the development of novel ADCs. Second, the issuance of the US patent stemming from the '384 application will provide a long period of market exclusivity for Defence in the largest global commercial market for innovative anti-cancer therapeutics, with a projected patent expiry date in 2043. Third, the allowance by the USPTO provides validation from a major patent office of the efficacy, innovative nature, and patentability of Defence's Accum®-based dimer and multimer technology, which bodes well for the company's other national filings planning in Q3 of 2025 stemming from corresponding international (PCT) patent application no. PCT/CA2023/051758.
Defence is also pleased to announce the further strengthening of its patent portfolio covering its platform vaccine technology based on covalent conjugation of Accum® and its variants to enhance immunogenicity of vaccines. In addition to patents already secured for this technology in the United States, Canada, Australia, and Japan, Defence now adds US patent no. 12,150,989 (the '989 patent) that was issued on November 26, 2024. The '989 patent, which includes composition-of-matter coverage, extends Defence's protection of its Accum®-based immunogenicity-enhancing variants to ones based on any steroid acid. Furthermore, Defence is also pleased to disclose that the counterpart Singaporean application no. 11202304388T was recently allowed by the Singaporean Patent Office, and the Singaporean patent is expected to be granted in early 2025 upon payment of the requisite governmental fees. These positive developments demonstrate Defence's continued commitment to strengthening its intellectual property, paving the way for licensing and strategic partnerships, for example, to improve the potency of vaccines already approved or currently in development.
"The recent issuance of these patents and allowances with broad claims covering our leading clinical candidates validates the innovative nature and the strength of our efficacy results, as we remain committed to the development of novel therapeutics for cancers. In addition, it secures Defence to negotiate licensing agreements with strong Biotech and Pharma companies," says Mr. Plouffe, CEO and president of Defence.
With the recent additions of Dr. Svetlana Selivanova, Dr. Maxime Parisotto and Dr. Elias Theodorou to its leadership team, and the fortification of its patent portfolio, foundations have been laid for Defence to build upon a very productive end of 2024, enabling the company to take major leaps forward in 2025 and bring Defence closer to its promise of bring to market novel anti-cancer therapies to improve the lives of patients worldwide.
About Defence:
Defence Therapeutics is a publicly-traded clinical-stage biotechnology company developing and engineering the next generation of radio-immuno-conjugate and ADC products using its proprietary platform in addition to novel immune-oncology vaccines. The core of Defence Therapeutics platform is the ACCUM® technology, which enables precision delivery of radio-immuno-conjugates or ADCs in their intact form to target cells, and vaccine antigens. As a result, increased efficacy and potency can be reached against catastrophic illness such as cancer and infectious diseases.
Cautionary Statement Regarding "Forward-Looking" Information
This release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address events or developments that the Company expects to occur, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "potential" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could" or "should" occur. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include regulatory actions, market prices, and continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Company's management on the date the statements are made. Except as required by applicable securities laws, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in the event that management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change.
Neither the CSE nor its market regulator, as that term is defined in the policies of the CSE, accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
