Arecor Therapeutics (AIM:AREC), the Cambridge-based clinical stage biotech developing treatments for diabetes, obesity and other cardiometabolic diseases, said on Thursday it has strengthened patent protection for AT278, its ultra-concentrated (500 U/mL) ultra-rapid acting insulin.
The European Patent Office has granted a patent covering AT278's use in automated insulin delivery (AID) systems, extending its European patent term to at least 2039.
The US Patent and Trademark Office has granted a separate patent for the same application, adding to Arecor's existing portfolio of granted US patents for AT278 and likewise pushing protection out to at least 2039.
The Indian Patent Office has granted a further patent offering broad protection for AT278's novel composition in that market.
Arecor's concentrated ultra-rapid acting insulins now carry more than 30 granted patents across major markets, spanning concentrations from 100 U/mL to over 500 U/mL.
"These new patents further strengthen the already robust IP portfolio protection for our concentrated ultra-rapid-acting insulins, and the novel technology underpinning them," said Dr Jan Jezek, chief scientific officer of Arecor.
The company is targeting a gap in the AID market it says current 100 U/mL insulins cannot fill: in the US, roughly one million people with diabetes need more than 100 units a day, a dose current pump cartridges cannot deliver with a three-day wear time, while a further one million existing AID users want longer, seven-day wear and smaller pumps that today's cartridge capacity cannot support.
Arecor estimates the segment of patients with the greatest unmet need for longer-wear, miniaturised pumps represents an insulin revenue opportunity of approximately $3 billion in the US alone, with further potential outside the country.