Amira announces UK patent grant for heteroalkyl antagonists of prostaglandin D2 receptors

May 27 2010

Amira Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that the U.K. Intellectual Property Office has granted patent number GB2461629, titled, "HETEROALKYL ANTAGONISTS OF PROSTAGLANDIN D2 RECEPTORS," which includes coverage of Amira's AM461 DP2 receptor antagonist.

This is the second patent granted of a large estate filed by Amira Pharmaceuticals that describe novel small molecule inhibitors of the DP2 (CRTH2) receptor.  Amira has successfully completed Phase 1 studies on two DP2 receptor antagonists, AM211 and AM461, and anticipates these compounds will be developed for the treatment of respiratory diseases such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and other allergic conditions.

"This UK patent for AM461 is another significant milestone for the Amira DP2 program and clearly shows that Amira can effectively develop patent-protected, novel drug candidates," said John Hutchinson, Ph.D., Vice President of Chemistry.

Bob Baltera, Chief Executive Officer of Amira, added, "This patent demonstrates Amira's continued focus on developing robust programs with strong patent protection, rather than single drug candidates.  We plan to use the same strategy in our continued development of our research programs, including our LPA program."

The newly granted claims cover novel phenoxyphenyl acetic acid compounds, their formulation and uses in Prostaglandin D2 (PGD2)-dependent conditions.  The patent also describes the method of synthesis of this class of DP2 antagonists and their routes of administration for the treatment of DP2 receptor-mediated diseases and conditions.