Singapore: Taiwan-based TWi Biotechnology has received notification of patent allowance for AC-201, its lead drug candidate, from the US Patent and Trademark Office.

The granted patent, US patent number 8,536,152, covers AC-201's use as a combination therapy with other existing blood glucose lowering therapy agents to treat type II diabetes. The patent is part of TWi Biotechnology's broad intellectual property portfolio for AC-201.

"We are very pleased with the issuance of this patent in United States for AC-201. This is the third patent TWi Biotechnology has received this year for our diabetes franchise," said Dr Calvin C Chen, president, TWi Biotechnology.

This new issuance provides TWi Biotechnology the intellectual property (IP) protection needed for AC-201 to address an unmet medical need for an effective treatment for chronic type II diabetes. Currently, the first line treatment for blood glucose therapy is metformin or sulfonylurea monotherapy. However, monotherapy with metformin or sulfonylurea still has limited benefit.

Many patients fail to achieve the treatment goal after going through an extended treatment period. TWi's AC-201, in combination with existing blood glucose lowering therapy agents including metformin, has demonstrated its efficacy of reducing HbA1c levels in type 2 diabetic patients in two phase II clinical trials.