US-based MetaStat has announced that the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has issued a patent entitled ‘Metastasis specific splice variants of mena and uses therof in diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of tumors’.
The patent, which expires on July 1, 2029, contains 34 claims that center on the company’s MenaCalc diagnostic platform and cover methods for the measurement of the relative levels of the isoforms of the mena protein in cancer cells and the use of such measurement in the diagnosis and prognosis of metastatic cancer.
The claims cover the use of the mena protein isoforms in the evaluation of the probability of systemic metastasis in the diagnosis and prognosis of secretory epithelial cancers; including breast, pancreas, prostate, colon, brain, liver, lung, and head and neck.
Coverage is extended to the use of the isoforms of mena to determine the efficacy of oncologic drug candidates and to the use of MenaCalc as a companion diagnostic for a new generation of anti-metastatic therapeutics useful in preventing the deadly systemic spread of cancer.
MetaStat’s CEO Oscar Bronsther noted this patent issuance continues to strengthen the company’s intellectual property position.
"MetaStat’s diagnostic programs, based on this biology will benefit patients with multiple forms of cancer, whose needs are currently unmet by existing products," Bronsther added.