Rexahn Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE Amex: RNN), a clinical stage pharmaceutical company commercializing potential best in class oncology and CNS therapeutics, today announced that the European Patent Office has granted European patent No. 1819698 to Rexahn for its novel anti-cancer quinoxalinyl-piperazine compounds.
“The issuance of this patent will enhance the commercial potential of RX-5902 in Europe- one of the largest markets of cancer therapeutics in the world, and further strengthens our overall global intellectual property position in oncology.”
This European patent covers several new quinoxalinyl-piperazine compounds, the process for their preparation, pharmaceutical composition, and a method for their producing an anti-proliferative effect. The patent also covers Rexahn's pre-clinical compound RX-5902, which is currently being developed by the company and human trials are expected to start this year.
RX-5902 is an orally available new chemical entity that exhibits extremely potent anti-tumor properties in several tumors including melanoma. The compound also exhibits strong anti-proliferative activity against known anti-cancer drug-resistance cancer cells, as well as a synergistic effect with known anti-cancer drugs as demonstrated in Rexahn's recent research article [Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry, 18:7966-7974, 2010].
Rick Soni, President of Rexahn, commented, "The issuance of this patent will enhance the commercial potential of RX-5902 in Europe- one of the largest markets of cancer therapeutics in the world, and further strengthens our overall global intellectual property position in oncology."