Stabilised Sulforaphane Patent to be granted in United States
Evgen Limited (United Kingdom), PharmAgra Labs Inc (United States) and Lalilab Inc (United States) are delighted to announce that the Stabilised Sulforaphane patent application (12/009,874) has received Notice of Allowance and will move to grant in the United States. Other major geographies are pending.
The Patent will contain method and compositional claims around the use of cyclodextrins to stabilise sulforaphane or its analogues.
Evgen has an Option Agreement to license, on a world-wide exclusive basis, stabilised sulforaphane (Sulforadex®) for medical applications. The initial target is to develop a low cost, safe for long-term use, medicine for patients diagnosed with indolent forms of prostate cancer – the objective being to significantly reduce the risk of disease progression during an active surveillance programme, thereby delaying or removing the requirement for a radical procedure such as a prostectomy.
The cancer preventative benefit of cruciferous vegetables (such as broccoli) is widely believed to be due to a molecule called glucoraphanin, which converts to the bioactive molecule, sulforaphane, upon consumption. Whilst sulforaphane has been well studied with regard to its mechanism of action in chemoprevention1 2, it has hitherto been an unrealistic drug candidate due to poor stability and lack of intellectual property. The grant of this patent is a major milestone in the commercialisation of this most promising molecule.
Chief Executive of Evgen, Dr Stephen Franklin said:
"Evgen, PharmAgra Labs and Lalilab are delighted with this positive development. We are currently in the process of raising the investment capital required to advance Sulforadex® into the clinic and this news was always going to be pivotal to closing this funding round. We believe we now have the scope of protection and patent life required to underpin what we believe is a relatively low risk drug development programme in an area with enormous unmet clinical need".
1 Glucosinolates, isothiocyantes and human health. Traka M. and Mithen R. F. (2009) Phytochem Rev 8 (1); 269-282
2 Sulforaphane inhibits prostate carcinogenesis and pulmonary metastasis in TRAMP Mice in association with increased cytotoxicity of Natural Killer Cells. Singh, S. V et al (2009) Cancer Res 69: (5); 2117-2125
Download the press release (.pdf).