AyuVis Research, which is developing a series of immune therapies that can prevent and treat a variety of inflammatory and infectious diseases, has received approval from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for its second patent.
This patent specifically protects the company’s lead drug candidate, AVR-48, which is scheduled for clinical trials this year.
The drug has been developed to treat pediatric diseases in addition to adult indications.
“The key attribute of these molecules is its smart design, which attains a balanced immune profile in preclinical models, has a high safety margin, and an easy manufacturing process with high water solubility … all perfect parameters for a drug-like clinical candidate,” says Suchi Acharya, the inventor of the patent and founder and CEO of AyuVis, in a statement.
Says Edwin Flores of Chalker and Flores, AyuVis’ patent attorney: “The issuance of a U.S. patent is an opportunity to reflect on the hard work and insight of the scientific team that made the invention possible. We congratulate Dr. Acharya and her team on this auspicious event.”
Since its formation in 2014, AyuVis has been developing several medicinal drug candidates. The first intended use of AVR-48 is for bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), a debilitating chronic lung disease in preterm babies caused by lung tissue inflammation and damage from supplemental oxygen administered in the NICU. Preterm babies need the supplemental oxygen to survive, but it can cause long-term damage and is a leading cause of death.
AyuVis’ first goal is to save these babies and help them grow into normal, healthy children. In parallel, it is developing drug candidates to treat other conditions, such as ventilator-associated pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, acute kidney injury, retinopathy of prematurity, diabetic retinopathy, sepsis, and skin conditions. The company has chosen an aggressive patent strategy to protect all its drug candidates and their potential uses.
“The news on this new patent approval is all part of the milestones that continue AyuVis’ forward momentum in an industry that is constantly met with milestone after milestone in venture development with each potentially leading to a halt in progress,” says Hayden Blackburn, executive director of TechFW. “It’s one of the reasons that AyuVis and its team is seeing continual recognition from their peers and the community.
AyuVis is a member of TechFW, a nonprofit technology business incubator and accelerator in Fort Worth. AyuVis was selected as one of TechFW’s 2022 Rising Star Awards at this year’s Impact Showcase & Awards and the People’s Choice Award.
AyuVis is a portfolio company of the Cowtown Angels, an angel investor network and a program of TechFW, and a partner with the UNT Health Science Center in its HSC Next incubator program.
The second patent also is approved in Australia and is under examination in several other countries and/or regions. As part of the USPTO’s examination, the patent was found to be novel, patentable, and have industrial application, which makes it eligible for the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) that can expedite review and approval in dozens of additional countries.
AyuVis has also filed three provisional patents during the past 12 months for new preclinical data in more diseases.
In addition to Acharya, AyuVis team members include David Riley, chief medical officer; Dale Christensen, director of early development; William Dean, head of CMC; Russell Bromley, director of operations; Stella Robertson, drug development advisor; Ranjan Misra, business advisor; and Darlene Boudreaux, CFO.