Swedish firm BioArctic has secured a patent from the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for a method with a medical device to treat patients with complete spinal cord injury.
The USPTO published an Issue of Notification of granting the company’s patent application US 14/361,650 for a method with the medical device, which is one of the components in the product candidate SC0806.
As per the notification, the US patent 9,895,234 will be granted and effective from 20 February.
The patent will help to protect the methods of treatment of patients with complete spinal cord injury. Earlier, the company secured similar patent in China and Australia.
SC0806 is a new product being developed to treat patients with complete spinal cord injury. The firm is currently carrying out phase 1/2 clinical trial for the product candidate.
In 2016, BioArctic treated the first patient with the product candidate at Karolinska University Hospital, Sweden.
The product candidate is a combination of a biodegradable medical device and a drug substance (FGF1), which will help in nerve regeneration across the injured area in the spinal cord.
BioArctic secured orphan drug designation for the product in 2010 in EU, and in 2011 in the US, providing the market exclusivity for the product for 10 and 7 years in Europe and the US.
The firm secured funding under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program to conduct a clinical study with SC0806.
BioArctic is engaged in the development treatments and diagnostics for neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.
Image: BioArctic’s laboratory cultivating cells. Photo: courtesy of BioArctic AB.