Avicena files composition of matter patent application for treatment of Huntington's disease

May 1 2007

Avicena Group has announced day that it has filed a composition of matter patent application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to cover potential treatments for Huntington's disease, a fatal neurodegenerative disease.

This composition of matter patent aims to extend Avicena's intellectual property portfolio for its current and future drug candidates for the treatment of Huntington's disease by broadly covering pharmaceutical formulations based on creatine derivatives alone or in combination with an anti-inflammatory compound. In addition, the Company believes that this patent will extend the IP protection for its Huntington's lead drug candidate, HD-02, as well as next generation therapeutic formulations for Huntington's disease beyond Avicena's existing IP claims in neurology (US Patents 6,196,115 B1 and 6,706,764 B2). HD-02 is currently in late stage clinical trials and has U.S. orphan drug designation.

"This patent application is part of our objective to assemble a robust IP portfolio, especially as HD-02 approaches late stage development", stated Belinda Tsao-Nivaggioli, Ph.D., CEO of Avicena. "HD-02 has already demonstrated significant potential in the clinic, and was shown to reduce the Huntington's disease marker and slow the rate of disease progression in a previously completed Phase II study. As previously announced earlier this week, the publication R&D Directions highlighted HD-02 in its list of 'Top 100 Investigational Drugs of 2007.'"

HD-02 is novel drug candidate for the treatment of Huntington's disease (HD) with orphan drug designation in the U.S. Avicena has recently completed a Phase II clinical study of HD-02 led by Dr. Steven Hersch of Massachusetts General Hospital. Results from this study, which were published in the journal Neurology, showed that HD-02 reduced the Huntington's disease marker, which some researchers have linked to reduced brain injury. Further, HD-02 was shown to slow the rate of disease progression.

In preclinical studies performed by Dr. Flint Beal of Cornell Medical Center, HD-02 has shown significant neuroprotective effects such as improved motor movement and increased survival rate.