AzurRx BioPharma, Inc.
AzurRx BioPharma Announces Notice of
Allowance of U.S. and Japan Patents Covering a MTAN Inhibitor for
Treating H. Pylori
Infections, the Primary Cause of Stomach Ulcers
BROOKLYN,
N.Y., June 7, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AzurRx BioPharma Inc.
(NASDAQ:AZRX)
(“AzurRx” or the “Company”), today
announced that both the United States Patent and Trademark Office
and the Japan Patent Office have respectively issued US Patent
10,118,928 and Japan Patent 6512613, for a patent entitled
“Treatment of H.
Pylori Infections Using MTAN Inhibitors”.
The
inhibitors are a novel, potent and selective group of
anti-microbials that have the potential to safely eradicate
Helicobacter pylori
(H. pylori) bacterial
infections that would spare the normal microbiome and would not
precipitate antibiotic resistance in off-target bacterial
species.
AzurRx
BioPharma has licensed the rights of these newly allowed patents
that are co-owned by Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the
City of New York and Victoria Link Limited in New Zealand. The base
invention was developed by Dr. Vern Schramm at Albert Einstein
College of Medicine and his colleagues at the Ferrier Research
Institute at Victoria University of Wellington. It relates to a
chemical compound, called a transition state analogue, with a
structure that resembles the transition state of a substrate
molecule that can block the active site of a bacterial enzyme. The
Company has licensed the MTAN technology and is targeting several
infectious diseases where the issue of antimicrobial resistance is
becoming more significant. Dr Schramm is a member of the AzurRx
board of directors.
“We
are very pleased by the issuance of these patents and we applaud
the pioneering work of Dr. Schramm and his colleagues at Albert
Einstein and the Ferrier Research Institute,” said Thijs
Spoor, CEO of AzurRx BioPharma. “We believe that the
MTAN Inhibitor technology adds significant value to the
company’s portfolio of non-systemic, narrow spectrum
therapeutic drugs that target GI and bacterial infections and
prevent dysbiosis in patients’ microbiomes. We believe the
MTAN technology has the potential to greatly reduce the number
of H.
pylori infections and we plan to further develop the
technology for narrow-spectrum anti-infectives against other
diseases that have been prioritized by the WHO and the
CDC”.
About
H. Pylori
Helicobacter pylori is a spiral-shaped bacterium that is
found in the gastric mucous layer or adherent to the epithelial
lining of the stomach. H.
pylori causes more than 90% of duodenal ulcers and up to 80%
of gastric ulcers. According to the CDC, approximately two-thirds
of the world’s population is infected with H. pylori and approximately 35%, or
over 100 million people, in the U.S. Most persons who are infected
with H. pylori never
suffer any symptoms related to the infection; however, H. pylori causes chronic active,
chronic persistent, and atrophic gastritis in adults and children.
Infection with H. pylori
also causes duodenal and gastric ulcers. Infected persons have a 2-
to 6-fold increased risk of developing gastric cancer and mucosal
associated-lymphoid-type (MALT) lymphoma compared with their
uninfected counterparts. Eradication of H. pylori is becoming increasingly
difficult; current standard-of-care therapies fail in approximately
30-40% of patients who remain H.
pylori positive due to growing resistance of H. pylori to clarithromycin and
metronidazole, antibiotics commonly used in standard combination
therapies according to peer reviewed meta-analyses.
About MTAN Inhibitors
MTANs
are involved in quorum sensing pathways and a few bacterial species
use MTAN to catalyze an essential metabolic step, making it a
candidate for species-specific antibiotic development. Helicobacter
pylori uses the unusual futalosine pathway for menaquinone
biosynthesis and the required MTAN from H. pylori (HpMTAN) is thus a target
for antibiotic development. The focus of development efforts is to
design transition state analogues specific for the HpMTAN as a
potential antibiotic in the treatment of H. pylori infections.
About AzurRx BioPharma, Inc.:
AzurRx
BioPharma, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZRX) is engaged in the
research and development of non-systemic biologics for the
treatment of patients with gastrointestinal disorders. MS1819
recombinant lipase for exocrine pancreatic insufficiency is the
company's lead development program, and additional early stage
research is being conducted for the prevention of hospital-acquired
infections. The company is headquartered in Brooklyn, NY, with
scientific operations based in Langlade, France. Additional
information on the company can be found at www.azurrx.com.
Forward-Looking Statements:
This
press release contains forward-looking statements within the
meaning of the Private Securities Litigations Reform Act of 1995.
Such statements include, but are not limited to, any statements
relating to our product development programs and any other
statements that are not historical facts. Such statements involve
risks and uncertainties that could negatively affect our business,
operating results, financial condition and stock price. Factors
that could cause actual results to differ materially from
management's current expectations include those risks and
uncertainties relating to the regulatory approval process, the
development, testing, production and marketing of our drug
candidates, patent and intellectual property matters and strategic
agreements and relationships. We expressly disclaim any
obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or
revisions to any forward-looking statements contained herein to
reflect any change in our expectations or any changes in events,
conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based,
except as required by law.
For
more Information:
AzurRx BioPharma, Inc.
760
Parkside Avenue, Suite 304
Brooklyn, NY 11226
Phone: 646-699-7855
www.azurrx.com
info@azurrx.com
IR
contact:
LifeSci Advisors, LLC.
Hans
Vitzthum, Managing Director
250
West 55th Street - Suite 16B
New
York, NY 10019
Phone:
212-915-2568
www.lifesciadvisors.com
hans@lifesciadvisors.com