ERX - A thread for everyone

RPT SR Pharma granted core RNAi patent by European Patent Office
(repeating to remove text from bottom of story)

LONDON (AFX) - SR Pharma plc said the European Patent Office has granted the company its core RNAi patent for the company's compounds which form the basis of its therapeutic development pipeline focused on cancer indications.

The patent covers SR Pharma's novel, stabilised, small interfering RNA (siRNA) molecules with blunt ends and positional modifications, referred to as 'AtuRNAi' by SR Pharma. This technology 'silences' genes linked to the onset of disease.

SR Pharma said its first clinical trials in the cancer field are expected to start in 2007.

These molecules also form the basis of the group's licence and collaboration agreement with Quark Biotech Inc and the recently announced sublicense to Pfizer Inc, whose Phase I clinical trial in Age-related Macular Degeneration using these molecules is expected to start in the near future.

The group is confident that it will be able to gain a similar level of patent protection for its AtuRNAi molecules from the US patent office during the course of 2007.