Provectus Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. a company specialized in developing oncology and dermatology therapies, recently announced that is has received from the US Patent and Trademark Office a Notice of Allowance for a joint patent application made together with Pfizer, Inc. to protect the use of PV-10 in combination with certain immunotherapeutic drugs in the treatment of melanoma.
PV-10, the company’s novel investigational drug for cancer, is designed for injection into solid tumors, lessening potential for systemic side effects. The new patent will protect the use of the compound on melanoma, breast cancer and cancers of the liver.
Under the patent rights, PV-10 can be used in combination with immune system down-regulation systemic inhibitors, including, PD-1, PD-L1 and anti-CTLA-4 antibodies, as well as with enhancers of immune system up-regulation, including IL-2 and interferon-gamma. Results from pre-clinical assays of the use of PV-10 in combination with these drugs confirmed its relevance in the treatment of advanced cancers.
Provectus is hoping that the patent protection will enable the company to achieve financial returns if clinical studies show that the use of PV-10 with the other compounds improves patients clinical outcomes.
Since 2013, data on PV-10’s feasibility has been presented at several international meetings. In November 2014, during the 29th Annual Meeting of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer’s (SITC), Dr. Shari Pilon-Thomas of the Moffitt Cancer Center presented a poster, entitled “Intralesional Injection with PV-10 in Combination with Co-Inhibitory Blockade in a Murine Model of Melanoma,” where she revealed that the new data “supports combination therapy with IL PV-10 and co-inhibitory blockade.”
In April 2013, during the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), Dr. Eric Wachter, Ph.D., Chief Technology Officer of Provectus, presented a poster titled “Combination of PV-10 Immuno-chemoablation and Systemic Anti-CTLA-4 Antibody Therapy in Murine Models of Melanoma.” At the time, Wachter commented that “This work shows that, as hypothesized, addition of the immunologic effects of an anti-CTLA-4 agent augments the benefits of PV-10. For visceral or other inaccessible disease, combination of PV-10 with CTLA-4 blockade offers important potential for synergy.”
Dr. Wachter noted, “The forthcoming patent arose from discussions several years ago with Dr. Craig Eagle of Pfizer, and appropriately given his contribution he is named as the lead inventor for these claims. In addition to the claimed combinations of PV-10 with immunotherapy agents, the specification covers combination with other classes of agents, and Provectus will pursue these areas through one or more divisional application.”
