Last month, Cereno Scientific announced the strengthening of its patent protection for two patent families regarding CS1 in Canada and in Russia. Now, the second family of patents has been strengthened even further as the company on Tuesday announced an expansion of such protection to the Japanese market.

As previously reported by BioStock, the Swedish biopharma company Cereno Scientific announced in late January that it had received two new patents for its clinical phase II drug candidate CS1 – a drug based on a reformulation of valproic acid aimed at treating cardiovascular diseases, including the rare disease pulmonary arterial hypertension(PAH). Those patents are part of two different patent families; a patent related to the first family was granted in Canada, while a patent related to the second family was granted in Russia.

The patent granted in the Russian market is part of Cereno’s second patent family in relation to drug candidate CS1. The patent is titled Valproic acid for the treatment or prevention of pathological conditions associated with excess fibrin deposition and/or thrombus formation and will be valid through 2035, with the possibility of a patent extension of additional five years maximum.

New patent for Japanese market

This patent family also covers the US market, and this week Cereno Scientific announced that it has expanded its protection for this family of patents to the Japanese market, which is one of the largest pharma markets in the world.

The company’s CEO Sten R. Sörensen commented on the importance of this new patent in a recent press release:

»Japan is one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical markets, only behind the US and marginally China. The patent protection for CS1 now covering two of the major global markets is an attractive IPR position ahead of future developments«

Strengthened commercial positioning

Cereno Scientific’s Chief Intellectual Property Officer (CIPO) Jonas Faijerson Säljö had anticipated more patents coming for the company in a recent interview with BioStock, where he commented on the importance of a good IPR strategy:

»By having a strong patent strategy, we are both thinking about strengthening Cereno’s commercial position in potential partnering discussions and at the same time considering the longer-term perspective in relation to potential commercial competitors.«

Cereno Scientific continues preparations for a phase II study with CS1 in PAH, which is expected to be initiated in mid-2021. In January, the company started a collaboration with the contract research organisation (CRO) Worldwide Clinical Trials, which will provide valuable support and guidance in the final preparatory steps for the clinical trial, including giving input for finalising the study protocol, submitting the IND to the FDA and preparing the clinical centers in the US, before eventually conducting the phase II trial with CS1 in PAH.

This new patent is yet another significant addition to the growing IPR portfolio secured for Cereno Scientific’s assets and will go a long way to strengthen the company’s commercial positioning moving forward.

The content of BioStock’s news and analyses is independent but the work of BioStock is to a certain degree financed by life science companies. The above article concerns a company from which BioStock has received financing.

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