Treatment methods with IL-17E include single and combination therapy along with anticancer drugs such as gemcitabine, paclitaxel, docetaxel, erlotinib, cisplatin and bevacizumab.
Patent also protects the treatment of a range of cancers such as breast, lung, colon, pancreatic, gastric, ovarian tumors and melanoma using the novel biological therapy.
Lorus president and CEO Dr. Aiping Young said the US patent issuance for IL-17E I crucial in the development of the innovative therapy.
"We and Cancer Research UK, our co-development partner, are committed to advancing IL-17E into clinical trials, and strong patent protection is part of our strategy to attain this goal," Young added.
IL-17E is based on a cytokine protein, human interleukin 17E that acts on cells of the immune system.