Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has issued the first U.S. Patent to Achillion resulting from its complement factor D research program. U.S. Patent No. 9,598,446 has been granted with claims to compositions of matter for compounds that inhibit complement factor D activity, a key mediator in the complement alternative pathway (AP).
In addition, the USPTO has issued Notices of Allowance of four additional U.S. patent applications owned by Achillion, also with claims to compositions of matter, that are expected to issue as patents over the next few months.
“Achillion’s aim is to establish a broad patent portfolio for its complement program. With the granting of this first patent we are pleased that the USPTO has confirmed that Achillion possesses a multitude of patentable complement factor D inhibitors,” commented Milind Deshpande, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Achillion. “As a leader in AP biology, we are proud to have been the first to clinically demonstrate, in healthy volunteers, the ability to suppress AP activity following oral dosing of our complement factor D inhibitor, ACH-4471.
The receipt of this patent, along with a number of additional patent applications under review by the USPTO, strengthens our position as a leader in factor D inhibitors for the potential treatment of AP-mediated diseases, such as C3G, PNH and geographic atrophy.”
