On June 9, 2020 Provectus (OTCQB: PVCT) reported that the Indian Patent Office (IPO) has granted the Company’s patent application for the combination of investigational autolytic cancer immunotherapy PV-10 and systemic immunomodulatory therapy, such as immune checkpoint blockade (CB) (Press release, Provectus Biopharmaceuticals, JUN 9, 2020, View Source [SID1234560940]). Pfizer, Inc. is a co-assignee on this award. The Company’s cancer combination therapy patent estate provides intellectual property (IP) protection in a number of countries in Asia, Europe, and North America into the 2030s.
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New IPO patent 337563 is associated with a family of US patents, including 9,107,887, which is entitled "Combination of local and systemic immunomodulative therapies for enhanced treatment of cancer" and was awarded by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in 2015, and 9,808,524, 9,839,688, and 10,471,144, which were awarded by the USPTO from 2017 to 2019.
The new 2020 IPO patent award for cancer combination therapy follows the Company’s IPO patent 297453, which was awarded in 2018 and protects Provectus’ proprietary manufacturing process used to produce the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) in the Company’s current and prospective investigational drug products. IPO patent 297453 is associated with a family of US composition of matter and process patents, including 8,530,675, which is entitled "Process for the Synthesis of 4,5,6,7-tetrachloro-3′,6′-dihydroxy-2′,4′,5′,7′-tetraiodo-3H-spiro[isobenzofuran-1,9-xanthen]-3-one (Rose Bengal) and Related Xanthenes" and was awarded by the USPTO in 2013, and 9,273,022 and 9,422,260, which were awarded by the USPTO in 2016.
The Company is also pleased to announce that it received application number 20200138942 from the USPTO for a fifth cancer combination therapy patent application filing, which is based on the abovementioned patent family and includes the combination of PV-10 and two systemic immunomodulatory therapies, such as an anti-CTLA-4 agent (e.g., Yervoy) and an anti-PD-1 agent (e.g., Opdivo). The Company is the sole assignee for this new cancer combination therapy patent application.
The triplet immunotherapy combination of PV-10, Yervoy, and Opdivo for the treatment of uveal melanoma metastatic to the liver (mUM) in patients naïve to CB and refractory to single-agent and combination therapy CB was the subject of the Company’s poster presentation at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) (Free ASCO Whitepaper) 2020 Virtual Scientific Program, held online May 29-31, 2020, entitled "Percutaneous hepatic injection of rose bengal disodium (PV-10) in metastatic uveal melanoma." This study, led by Sapna Patel, MD, Associate Professor, Department of Melanoma Medical Oncology, Division of Cancer Medicine of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC), is enrolling patients into a single-center cohort at MDACC of up to 25 mUM patients.
Small molecule-based PV-10 is administered either by cutaneous intratumoral (IT) injection to superficial melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancer tumors (such as basal cell carcinoma, Merkel cell carcinoma, and squamous cell carcinoma) or by percutaneous IT injection to visceral primary and metastatic tumors of the liver (such as hepatocellular carcinoma, metastatic colorectal cancer, metastatic neuroendocrine tumors, and mUM). By targeting tumor cell lysosomes, PV-10 treatment may yield immunogenic cell death in solid tumor cancers that results in tumor-specific reactivity in circulating T cells and a T cell mediated immune response against treatment refractory and immunologically cold tumors.1-3 Adaptive immunity can be enhanced by combining CB with PV-10.4
About PV-10
PV-10 is an investigational new drug undergoing clinical study for adult solid tumor cancers, such as relapsed and refractory cancers metastatic to the liver and metastatic melanoma. PV-10 is also undergoing preclinical study for relapsed and refractory pediatric solid tumor cancers (e.g., neuroblastoma, Ewing sarcoma, rhabdomyosarcoma, and osteosarcoma)5,6 and relapsed and refractory pediatric blood cancers (such as acute lymphocytic leukemia and acute myelocytic leukemia)7,16.
Tumor Cell Lysosomes as the Seminal Drug Target
Lysosomes are the central organelles for intracellular degradation of biological materials, and nearly all types of eukaryotic cells have them. Discovered by Christian de Duve, MD in 1955, lysosomes are linked to several biological processes, including cell death and immune response. In 1959, de Duve described them as ‘suicide bags’ because their rupture causes cell death and tissue autolysis. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1974 for discovering and characterizing lysosomes, which are also linked to each of the three primary cell death pathways: apoptosis, autophagy, and necrosis.
Building on the Discovery, Exploration, and Characterization of Lysosomes
Cancer cells, particularly advanced cancer cells, are very dependent on effective lysosomal functioning.8 Cancer progression and metastasis are associated with lysosomal compartment changes9,10, which are closely correlated with (among other things) invasive growth, angiogenesis, and drug resistance11.
PV-10 selectively accumulates in the lysosomes of cancer cells upon contact, disrupting the lysosomes and causing the cells to die. Provectus1,12, external collaborators6, and other researchers14,15,17 have independently shown that PV-10 (RB) triggers each of the three primary cell death pathways: apoptosis, autophagy, and necrosis.
Cancer Cell Autolytic Death via PV-10: PV-10 induced autolytic cell death, or death by self-digestion, in Hepa1-6 murine HCC cells can be viewed in this Provectus video of the event (ethidium homodimer 1 [ED-1] stains DNA, but is excluded from intact nuclei; lysosensor green [LSG] stains intact lysosomes; the video is provided in 30-second frames; the event has a duration of approximately one hour). Exposure to PV-10 triggers the disruption of lysosomes, followed by nucleus failure and autolytic cell death. Identical responses have been shown by the Company in HTB-133 human breast carcinoma (which can be viewed in this Provectus video; this event has a duration of approximately two hours) and H69Ar human multidrug-resistant small cell lung carcinoma. Cancer cell autolytic cell death was reproduced by research collaborators from POETIC using relapsed and refractory human pediatric neuroblastoma cells to show that lysosomes are disrupted upon exposure to PV-10.5
Immune Signaling Pathways: PV-10 causes acute autolytic destruction of injected tumors (i.e., cell death), mediating several identified immune signaling pathways studied to date, such as the release of danger-associated molecular pattern molecules (DAMPs) and tumor antigens that initiate an immunologic cascade where local response by the innate immune system facilitates systemic anti-tumor immunity by the adaptive immune system. The DAMP release-mediated adaptive immune response activates lymphocytes, including CD8+ T cells, CD4+ T cells, and NKT cells, based on clinical and preclinical experience in multiple tumor types. Other mediated immune signaling pathways that have been identified include PARP cleavage5 and, now, stimulator of interferon genes (STING), which plays an important role in innate immunity16. PV-10 is the first cancer drug that may facilitate multiple, complementary, immune system signaling pathways.17
Orphan Drug Designations (ODDs)
ODD status has been granted to PV-10 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatments of metastatic melanoma in 2006, hepatocellular carcinoma in 2011, neuroblastoma in 2018, and ocular melanoma (including uveal melanoma) in 2019.
Drug Product
Rose bengal disodium (RB) (4,5,6,7-tetrachloro-2’,4’,5’,7’-tetraiodofluorescein disodium salt) is a small molecule halogenated xanthene and PV-10’s active pharmaceutical ingredient. The Company manufactures RB using a patented process designed to meet strict modern global quality requirements for pharmaceuticals and pharmaceutical ingredients (Good Manufacturing Practice, or GMP). PV-10 drug product is an injectable formulation of 10% w/v GMP RB in 0.9% saline, supplied in single-use glass vials containing 5 mL (to deliver) of solution, and administered without dilution to solid tumors via IT injection.
Intellectual Property (IP)
Provectus’ IP includes a family of US and international (a number of countries in Asia, Europe, and North America) patents that protect the process by which GMP RB and related halogenated xanthenes are produced, avoiding the formation of previously unknown impurities that exist in commercial grade RB in uncontrolled amounts. The requirement to control these impurities is in accordance with International Council on Harmonisation (ICH) guidelines for the manufacturing of an injectable pharmaceutical. US patent numbers are 8,530,675, 9,273,022, and 9,422,260, with expirations ranging from 2030 to 2031.
The Company’s IP also includes a family of US and international (a number of countries in Asia, Europe, and North America) patents that protect the combination of PV-10 and systemic immunomodulatory therapy (e.g., anti-CTLA-4, anti-PD-1, and anti-PD-L1 agents) for the treatment of a range of solid tumor cancers. US patent numbers are 9,107,887, 9,808,524, 9,839,688, and 10,471,144, with expirations ranging from 2032 to 2035; US patent application numbers include 20200138942.