Pharmos Corporation Receives Notice of Allowance for U.S. Patent for CB2 Receptor Agonists and Grant to Develop Technology
Tuesday September 7, 9:22 am ET
Patent Covers Compounds to Treat Pain, Autoimmune and Inflammatory Diseases and Other Disorders
ISELIN, N.J., Sept. 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Pharmos Corporation (Nasdaq: PARS - News) today announced that the Company has received a Notice of Allowance from the United States Patent and Trademark Office on a patent application relating to synthetic, non-psychotropic cannabinoids that are specific agonists of the peripheral cannabinoid-2 (CB2) receptor. The allowed claims cover a set of compounds and their use to treat a wide variety of potential applications of this class of compounds, including preventing, treating and managing hypertension, inflammation, pain, gastrointestinal disorders, autoimmune diseases and other disorders. The preferred compound of this allowed application is HU-308 which was described in detail in a 1999 paper in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (Hanus L, Breuer A, Tchilibon S, Shiloah S, Goldenberg D, Horowitz M, Pertwee RG, Ross RA, Mechoulam R, Fride E.: HU-308: a specific agonist for CB(2), a peripheral cannabinoid receptor. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1999, 96:14228-14233.)
Separately, Pharmos announced that it has received a grant for 2004 of $482,000 from the Office of the Chief Scientist of Israel to support development of drug candidates from its CB2-selective family of compounds. This grant is in addition to a previously announced grant for 2004 of $3.1 million to support development of the Company's lead neuroprotective drug candidate, dexanabinol (see "Pharmos Receives Grant from Israel Government", dated April 1, 2004, at pharmoscorp.com.
Haim Aviv, Ph.D., Chairman and CEO, said, "This patent, when issued, will be a primary component of our intellectual property rights in CB2-selective agonists, a class of compounds that is important to the growth of our product pipeline in the next two to three years. These compounds have great potential in addressing diseases requiring immune modulation and represent progress in applications of the cannabinoid class." Dr. Aviv added, "The grant from the Office of the Chief Scientist will help Pharmos expedite development of the CB2-selective platform. We are grateful for the confidence manifested by the continued support by the Chief Scientist for our programs."
Pharmos' CB2-selective agonists are bicyclic cannabinoids, a family of compounds within the Company's proprietary non-psychotropic synthetic cannabinoid library. CB2-selective compounds have a high affinity for the CB2 receptor, expressed primarily by inflammatory and immune cells, and lower affinity for the CB1 receptor, located mainly in the central nervous system. CB2-selective cannabinoids minimize the unwanted side effects seen with many natural cannabinoids, including behavioral effects.
Pharmos holds a worldwide, exclusive license for these CB2-selective agonists developed by Professor Raphael Mechoulam and coworkers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In collaboration with Professor Mechoulam, Pharmos scientists have initiated programs dedicated to the commercial development of CB2-selective cannabinoid compounds. These compounds have shown potent activity in preclinical animal models of severe pain and neurodegeneration, as seen in Parkinson's disease and autoimmune disorders including rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis and inflammatory bowel disease. The Company has synthesized a library of novel bicyclic CB2-selective agonists, all of which are proprietary to Pharmos, and selected a lead compound with oral bioactivity for further preclinical development in several therapeutic areas and is undertaking a program of toxicology studies in anticipation of clinical trials.
Pharmos discovers, develops, and commercializes novel therapeutics to treat a range of indications, in particular neurological and inflammation- based disorders. The Company's first neuroprotective product is dexanabinol, a tricyclic dextrocannabinoid, currently undergoing clinical testing as a treatment for traumatic brain injury and as a preventive agent against post- surgical cognitive impairment. Other dextrocannabinoid compounds and CB2- selective receptor agonist compounds from Pharmos' proprietary synthetic cannabinoid library are being studied in pre-clinical programs targeting pain, multiple sclerosis and other disorders.
Statements made in this press release related to the business outlook and future financial performance of the Company, to the prospective market penetration of its drug products, to the development and commercialization of the Company's pipeline products and to the Company's expectations in connection with any future event, condition, performance or other matter, are forward-looking and are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements involve risks and uncertainties which may cause results to differ materially from those set forth in these statements. Additional economic, competitive, governmental, technological, marketing and other factors identified in Pharmos' filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission could affect such results.
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Source: Pharmos Corporation
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