Prima Biomed and pSivida granted patents

Melbourne-based biotech Prima Biomed (ASX:PRR) has been granted a patent by the European Patent Office for its CancerVac therapy, and nanotechnology company pSivida (ASX:PSD, NASDAQ:PSDV, Xetra:PSI) has been granted its first Chinese patent.

Prima's immunotherapeutic product, Mannan Fusion Product (MFP) - the subject of the patent - is currently being tested in Phase IIa clinical trials in ovarian cancer.

North American based company Biomira has secured an option to commercialise MFP outside of Australia at the completion of the Phase IIa clinical trials.

"The granting of this patent strengthens the chances of Biomira electing to take up those options," said CEO Marcus Clark. "If they elect it would be a major step forward for the company."

Terms already negotiated with Biomira would see Prima Biomed receiving up to $US20 million through the development stages of the product said Clark.

Results from the clinical trial should be available at the end of the year.

MFP causes the production of a class of immune cell called cytotoxic T cells which act via mucin 1, a protein which is known to be present on the cell surface of many different types of cancer. The product should help to stabilise or reduce tumour in cancer patients.

Two USA patents and one Australian patent have already been granted for the MFP product and are valid until 2014.

Chinese patent for pSivida

The pSivida patent provides protection for silicon implants for drug delivery. These implants are made from tissue-compatible silicon which degrades in the body in a controllable manner.

pSivida is currently in exploratory discussions with commercialisation partners for the Chinese market for its lead product BrachySil and is investigating the optimum regulatory process to launch the product in China.

The company expects to enter into a supply agreement with a local Chinese distributor responsible for obtaining regulatory approval, sales and marketing.

Bionomics files patents for cancer drug

South Australian genomics company Bionomics (ASX:BNO) has also filed patent applications in key markets, including the US, relating to the company's proprietary cancer drug target BNO69.

The role of BNO69 as a target for inhibiting angiogenesis (blood vessel formation) has been published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA and Physiological Genomics and recent findings indicate that BNO69, and molecules that silence its expression, may have therapeutic utility in directly targeting cancer cells. BNO69 is potentially an effective drug target for treating breast cancer.