Borean Pharma Granted United States Patent
Lead Therapeutic Candidate for Atherosclerosis
Borean Pharma A/S, the biopharmaceutical and protein engineering company, announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued a U.S. Patent (No. 6,897,039) for the Company's atherosclerosis drug candidate, Trimeric Apolipoprotein A-I, which is in preclinical development.
The Borean atherosclerosis drug candidate is a trimerised version of the naturally occurring protein, Apolipoprotein A-I (ApoA-I). ApoA-I is the major protein component of High Density Lipoprotein (HDL), so-called "good cholesterol". Plasma levels of HDL and ApoA-I have been found to be inversely correlated with the incidence of atherosclerosis. Trimeric Apo A-I has been shown to stabilise and inhibit plaque formation in mice arteries more effectively than the naturally occurring monomeric form.
Borean Pharma initially developed this trimeric ApoA-I protein in collaboration with Proteopharma. Proteopharma was acquired by Borean Pharma in February 2004.
Recently, a Phase II clinical trial demonstrated that a dimeric variant of Apolipoprotein A-I, ApoA-I Milano, reduced the fatty arterial plaque that triggers most heart attacks by an average of 4.2%.
Dr. Johanna Holldack, CEO Borean Pharma commented: "Once again the granting of this patent adds to the broad patent portfolio that Borean is building up around its protein therapeutics. Specifically, this patent refers to one of our lead therapeutic candidates in an area of significant clinical need."
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