ProQR Therapeutics N.V. announced the grant of two key patents protecting QR-010 in the US and EU. These patents provide the Company exclusive rights for QR-010 for the treatment of cystic fibrosis (CF) until at least July 2033.
“We are very pleased with the granting of these key pieces of intellectual property (IP) in our large and expanding IP estate, protecting QR-010 and the broader technology beyond that”, said Rene Beukema, General Counsel and Chief Corporate Development Officer of ProQR. “We pursue a very aggressive patent strategy as our 16 patent families, along with 6 in-licensed patent estates, provide multiple layers of protection for our novel products and technologies. This is an important element of our corporate strategy and we will continue to build our IP portfolio along with the development of our pipeline programs.”
US patent no. 9,605,255 is directed to methods of targeting RNA for the most common mutation in CF, called F508del, using oligonucleotides to restore the function of the CFTR protein. Last year, ProQR also received the grant of the equivalent European patent (EP 2 852 668 B1). Apart from these ProQR owned patents, ProQR has an exclusive license to US patent no. 9,617,535 from Massachusetts General Hospital covering QR-010.
