Daewoong Pharmaceutical(069620) received a decision to register a patent in the United States for technology that delivers messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) into cells. A registration decision means the patent examination has been passed, and after follow-up procedures it will be registered as an official patent.
It is the first global patent achievement since acquiring the intellectual property (IP) and asset of the U.S. company Turn Biotechnologies in May. Daewoong Pharmaceutical plans to speed up development of mRNA-based rejuvenation therapies using this technology.
Daewoong Pharmaceutical said on the 27th that technology related to ionizable lipids, the original technology of the lipid nanoparticle (LNP) delivery platform "eTurna" acquired from Turn Bio, received a patent registration decision from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
The patent is titled "Lipid structures and compositions comprising same." It covers the structure of ionizable lipids used to deliver therapeutic nucleic acids such as mRNA to target cells and the LNP technology that contains them.
An LNP is a type of carrier that encloses mRNA and delivers it to target cells in the body. Because mRNA is easily degraded in the body, how stably it is delivered into cells is a key challenge in drug development. Ionizable lipids that make up the LNP play an important role in this process.
Turn Bio is developing the "ERA (Epigenetic Reprogramming of Aging)" platform, which delivers a "function reset" factor in the form of mRNA to aged cells to restore functions diminished by aging while maintaining cellular identity. eTurna, which received the patent registration decision this time, serves to deliver the mRNA carrying this factor to cells in this process.
Daewoong Pharmaceutical acquired all related IP and asset of Turn Bio in May. It also succeeded to the exclusive technology export contract for the rejuvenation platform that had been signed between Turn Bio and Daewoong Pharmaceutical's subsidiary HanAll Biopharma.
Daewoong Pharmaceutical plans to complete U.S. patent registration and push ahead with developing mRNA-based rejuvenation therapies that combine eTurna and the ERA platform.
Park Sung-su, CEO of Daewoong Pharmaceutical, said, "We will quickly push to bring the preclinical pipeline into clinical trials."