News: Phylogica granted European peptide patent

Phylogica (ASX:PYC, XETRA:PH7) has been allowed its European patent application for synthetic Phylomer libraries.

This new patent also further extends the life of Phylogica’s core intellectual property claim over this area until 2027.

Phylomers are peptides derived from nature that bind to disease associated target proteins to block interactions that promote multiple diseases such as infectious diseases, cancer, autoimmune and heart disease.

A synthetic Phylomer library ‘hand-picks’ the best quality peptides found in nature, particularly those that have evolved over billions of years for the ability to bind targets.

This can greatly reduce the numbers of peptides required to generate disease-specific binders – down from billions of peptides for a conventional Phylomer library to potentially less than 100,000 candidates using a synthetic approach.

The ability to condense or miniaturise a synthetic Phylomer library also makes them ideal for incorporation into next generation micro-sensors in diagnostics.

For example, a synthetic Phylomer library could be used as a universal-biosensor to screen patient samples from blood, urine or saliva to detect diseases such as diabetes, cancer or various infections.

When samples come into contact with the sensor they generate a binding signature characteristic of a particular disease thus enabling rapid diagnosis.

Importantly, biosensors are recognised as being critical to the future of personalised medicine.

Here, the binding signature generated by a biosensor would be used not just for diagnosis but also to design a course of treatment tailored specifically for the patient and to monitor the response to therapy.

This patent milestone is another barrier-to-entry to potential competitors and ensures Phylogica has a stake-hold in the growing fields of diagnostics and personalised medicine.

This patent covers broad methods of designing synthetic Phylomer peptide libraries based on the identification of parts of natural proteins that are predicted to form structures independently in solution when isolated from their parent protein.

The patent also contains methods for maximising the diversity of such structures represented in the library.