USPTO grants Cenestra Health patent relating to high-purity omega-3 fatty acid formulations

Jan 27 2010

Cenestra Health announced today that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued a key patent related to the company's high-purity omega-3 fatty acid formulations and their methods of use. U.S. Patent No. 7652068, entitled "Omega-3 Fatty Acid Formulations," covers a unique, high-purity formulation of the omega-3 fatty acids EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid).

"The claims allowed by the USPTO are an important milestone for Cenestra Health's scientific efforts to differentiate its novel omega-3 formulations," said Ann Coric, M.D., a co-founder of the company. "Our research supports a paradigm shift in thinking about omega-3s by showing that the relative ratios of EPA and DHA play an important role in the beneficial effects of omega-3 fatty acids. The idea that all omega-3 formulations are the same just doesn't hold up anymore--we've shown that purity and the relative ratio of EPA to DHA confer unique properties to the action of omega-3 fatty acids."

Scientific data obtained from third party academic laboratories support Cenestra Health's proprietary formulation as having novel properties compared to other omega-3 products. These studies show that Cenestra Health's proprietary omega-3 formulations simultaneously decrease key pro-inflammatory mediators implicated in cardiovascular and inflammatory disorders while also increasing expression of a key nerve growth factor, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which is associated with antidepressant properties. In addition, preclinical animal models using Cenestra Health's proprietary formulation demonstrated anti-depressant-like properties over other products formulated with varying EPA:DHA ratios.

"We are pleased by the USPTO's decision and we are evaluating our development platform in light of the potential therapeutic implications offered by a differentiated and proprietary EPA:DHA omega-3 formulation," said Louis Sanfilippo, M.D., a Managing Director of Cenestra Health. "In preliminary studies, our high purity and approximately 4:1 EPA to DHA formulation demonstrated robust inhibition of key inflammatory mediators (including IL-1-beta and TNF-alpha), triglyceride lowering properties and favorable effects on BDNF. We are actively exploring partnership opportunities to further build on our scientific findings and commercialize a fully differentiated pharmaceutical grade omega-3."