Epix Pharmaceuticals wins new US patent

Epix Pharmaceuticals, a biopharmaceutical company, has received a new patent from the US Patent and Trademark Office.

The granted claims of this patent are directed to the highly selective 5-HT4 small molecule agonist, PRX-03140, and to compositions that include PRX-03140 as one of the active ingredients. Epix also has pending patent applications relating to compositions and methods of using PRX-03140.

PRX-03140 is being developed under Epix’s worldwide multi-target strategic collaboration with GlaxoSmithKline to discover, develop and market novel medicines targeting four G-protein-coupled receptors for the treatment of a variety of diseases.

Elkan Gamzu, president and CEO of Epix, said: We believe this patent will be a valuable asset as we continue to develop PRX-03140 for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. In 2008, we announced results of our Phase IIa clinical trial of PRX-03140 as a single agent and in combination with Aricept, which demonstrated, among other characteristics, that PRX-03140 was well tolerated with no serious drug-related adverse events.

As we continue to make progress in the development of PRX-03140, we believe this milestone may prove to be a significant benefit in the eventual commercialization of the compound, which we believe may have the potential to improve cognition and memory and to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.