Date: 25-Feb-2021

OKYO Pharma Gets US Patent For Lipid Conjugated Peptide Analogues To Treat Ocular Pain And Inflammation

OKYO Pharma, a biotechnology company, announced that patent No. 10,899,796 entitled “Compounds and Methods for Treating Pain” was issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) on January 26, 2021. This patent covers a class of bovine adrenal medulla (BAM) peptides linked to specific lipids that demonstrate potential for treating symptoms of neuropathic pain, ocular pain, ocular inflammation and/or dry eye disease.

The work recited in this patent lays out the potential of this class of lipidated BAM analogues as non-opioid analgesics for ocular pain management without the side effects and potential abuse associated with opioid medications. The Company originally announced in February 2018 that it had obtained exclusive licenses from On Target Therapeutics LLC and Tufts Medical Center, respectively, covering this ophthalmic disease drug program. These licenses included the rights to the intellectual property (IP) estate covering composition-of-matter and methodology claims on these lipid-linked analogues.

“The publication of this patent on our BAM-lipidated analogues provides key IP protection crucial for bringing forward a candidate from this class into the clinic,” said Dr. Gary S. Jacob, CEO of OKYO. “It is important to recognize that the novel element of these drug candidates is the lipid anchor component of the molecule which we believe is the ‘secret sauce’ in seeing a pharmacologic benefit in the environment of the eye where tearing and other physiologic phenomena normally work against the effectiveness of drugs due to washout. We will be working hard to bring our lead BAM candidate forward for filing an IND as we move through 2021.”