Idera Pharmaceuticals Announces New U.S. Patent Coverage for Tilsotolimod Through September 2037

– Protects Method-of-Use in CRC and HNSCC –

EXTON, Pa., Sept. 28, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Idera Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: IDRA) today announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued U.S. Patent No. 10,772,907 (the ‘907 Patent) and allowed U.S. Patent Application No. 16/557,597 (the ‘597 Application), both entitled “Immune Modulation with TLR9 Agonists for Cancer Treatment” and each of which includes the Company’s investigational therapy tilsotolimod.

The new patent and allowed application each include 26 claims directed to methods of treating colorectal cancer (CRC) (the ‘907 Patent) and head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) (the ‘597 Application) with intratumoral administration of tilsotolimod in combination with certain immune checkpoint inhibitor therapies, including CTLA-4, PD-1 or PD-L1 proteins. This new coverage expands protection of the first tilsotolimod method-of-use patent, which was directed to methods of treating metastatic melanoma and was issued in November 2019. The patents and the allowed application provide exclusivity for certain uses of tilsotolimod through September 2037.

“The CRC patent and the soon-to-issue HNSCC patent fortify our ‘beyond melanoma’ strategy for tilsotolimod, which currently includes ongoing development in MSS-CRC via our ILLUMINATE-206 trial and in HNSCC via our collaboration with AbbVie,” said Vincent Milano, Idera’s Chief Executive Officer. “These additional new intellectual property protections also demonstrate our commitment to tilsotolimod and to furthering its development potentially to address unmet need for patients living with cancer.”

About MSS-CRC and ILLUMINATE-206
Colorectal cancer involves the abnormal growth of cells in the colon or rectum. This type of cancer is typically tested to determine its “MSI” status, which will inform treatment approach and prognosis. MSI stands for “microsatellite instable.” MSI-High (MSI-H) means that there is a high amount of instability in a tumor, whereas MSS tumors are “microsatellite stable.” According to the American Cancer Society and other references, annually in the United States, approximately 140,000 people are diagnosed with CRC, of which 85% are MSS, and approximately 50,000 deaths are attributed to CRC.