Lab21 Limited, the Cambridge, UK-based specialist in personalised
medicine has secured new patents in Europe and the USA relating to
Hepatitis C (HCV) drug resistance as it continues to expand its
intellectual property portfolio in infectious disease testing.
The patents cover technology allowing the genotypic identification of
drug resistant mutations in the 4 major global genotypes of HCV. The new
patents represent successful extensions of the original European
approval, granted in 2009. The US patent is the first successful patent
Lab21 has secured in North America to protect its growing business.
There is significant commercial interest in the development of small
molecule HCV therapeutics with two licensed protease (NS3) inhibitors
already available today and at least 10 new molecules in clinical trials.
Dr Berwyn Clarke, CSO at Lab21 commented: 'Lab21 has extensive
experience in the area of antiretroviral drug resistance from many years
of working in HIV. With the number of new HCV therapeutics in
development and the changeable nature of the virus, we expect routine
resistance analysis for HCV patients to be introduced into clinical
guidelines in the near future. Our IP in this area will be of great
importance to the clinical management of these patients and will enable
easy drug resistance monitoring during clinical trials.