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SUDA Pharmaceuticals secures Australia patent for Anagrelide cancer treatment, shares up 28%

Last updated: 11:50 08 Sep 2020 AEST, First published: 11:45 08 Sep 2020 AEST

SUDA Pharmaceuticals Ltd - Suda Pharmaceuticals secures Australia patent for Anagrelide cancer treatment
The patent has an expiry date of December 2035

SUDA Pharmaceuticals Ltd’s (ASX:SUD) patent application for Anagrelide, an FDA and EMA approved drug to treat blood disorders to be repurposed for use in cancer, has been accepted by the Australian Patent office.

The patent application No 2015370666 titled ‘Prevention and Treatment of Metastatic Disease in Thrombocytotic Cancer Patients’ will be granted for the new use of anagrelide.

Shares in the company have been up as much as 28% to 5.5 cents today.

“Patent creates value”

The company already holds a granted patent for Europe and earlier this year received a grant for the patent in Japan.

SUDA chief executive officer Dr Michael Baker said: “We are very pleased to add Australia to the list of territories for which we have a granted patent for this new use of anagrelide, the other territories being Europe and Japan.

“In drug development, patents are an important part of the value creation process and this grant in Australia strengthens our ability to maximise value from the anagrelide program.”

The patent has an expiry date of December 2035.

Anagrelide as cancer treatment  

SUDA is developing anagrelide for the treatment of metastatic disease in patients who have certain solid tumour cancers with the intention of increasing progression-free survival or lifespan.

Recent research has demonstrated the proactive role that platelets play in facilitating the growth and spread of cancer, in addition to suppressing immune responses to cancer.

It has also been shown that cancer cells can trigger a negative feedback loop, sending out chemicals to signal to the body to produce more platelets and hence aid the further development of cancer.

Solid tumour types for which increased platelet levels have been reported to occur in a significant proportion of the patient population include melanoma, mesothelioma, ovarian, vulvar, cervical, renal cell, lung, glioblastoma, pancreatic, endometrial and colorectal cancer.

Anagrelide not only advantageously lowers blood platelets but it has also been shown to inhibit cancer cell movement towards platelet-producing cells, megakaryocytes, principally found in the bone marrow but also the lung, two likely sites of metastases.

Potential for oral spray

Additionally, SUDA recently completed a pharmacokinetic study at Covance Inc in the UK.

The preliminary data supported the company’s hypothesis that an oral spray of the drug may be a safer way to deliver anagrelide to treat metastatic disease in patients with solid tumour cancers, as it may reduce the unwanted cardiovascular side effects associated with the current commercial capsule formulation.

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