Silence Therapeutics makes further IP progress

Developer of novel RNA therapeutics for the treatment of serious disease, Silence Therapeutics, announced a “further step” in the expansion of its chemical modification patent estate.

The AIM-traded firm had announced that it expanded and strengthened its above-patent estate earlier in May, by filing additional divisional and continuation patent applications in Europe and the US respectively.

It also announced that subsequently, the US Patent Office issued a notice of allowance for US patent application 14/977,710.

Silence said it made the relevant payment of grant fees, and normal practice was that the granted patent would now be issued by the US Patent and Trade Mark Office.

The allowed claims of US patent application 14/977,710 provided Silence with further protection for its innovative chemical modification technology in the US, the board claimed.

It said it believed the allowed claims were relevant to third-party medicines in ongoing clinical trials for conditions including - but not exclusively limited to - hypercholesterolemia, haemophilia “In allowing this additional patent application for grant, the US patent office has continued to uphold the validity of our expanding US patent estate,” commented Silence chief executive Ali Mortazavi.

“We continue to believe that several third party late-stage clinical RNAi candidates, including lipid nanoparticle and GalNAc based products, require licences under our patent portfolio, and have therefore written to one company to this effect.”

Mortazavi said Silence was committed to defending and securing the appropriate value for its intellectual property, and was exploring alternative ways to leverage the asset.

“The first launch for these medicines is anticipated in 2018.

“We consider that potential licences under our patent estate could have a significant financial effect relative to the current market capitalisation of Silence.”