The Alterity Therapeutics Ltd (ASX: ATH) share price has rocketed up 27% this morning after its patent was approved by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. At the time of writing, the Alterity share price is trading up at 3.3 cents.
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Approval of US patent
The new patent is the result of Alterity's in-house discovery research and is central to its next generation drug development portfolio focused on neurodegenerative diseases.
Alterity's lead product, ATH434, is showing potential to treat various forms of atypical Parkinsonism. Parkinsonian disorders are a group of diseases in which individuals experience slowness of movement, stiffness and tremor. They include Parkinson's disease and Multiple System Atrophy, as well as Alzheimer's disease. The first disease target selected by Alterity is Multiple System Atrophy, a highly debilitating disease with no approved treatments.
The US patent confers on Alterity 20 years of exclusivity, providing a strong basis for continued drug development and commercialisation and new compound identification within its extensive drug discovery library to target important neurodegenerative diseases.
Commenting on the news, Alterity CEO Geoffrey Kempler said the patent established "an excellent foundation for the company to pursue multiple therapeutics across a spectrum of neurodegenerative disease".
The patent will allow the company to fully prosecute these opportunities with confidence in the coming years to address some of the most devastating brain diseases which currently have few or no treatment options.
The day the Alterity share price jumped 2000%
On 1 July 2020, the Alterity share price jumped more than 2000% from 1.7 cents to a peak of 41 cents before closing at 16.5 cents. This followed an announcement from the company that it had received guidance from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in relation to the development pathway for ATH43.
Alterity met with the FDA following its successful Phase 1 clinical trial and further data analysis. The pre-IND (investigational new drug) meeting was to obtain input on the clinical development plan for ATH434, including feedback on the Phase 2 study design.
Alterity reached an agreement with the FDA on the non-clinical investigations required to support the Phase 2 study. In parallel with its US strategy, the company also plans to pursue a regulatory pathway in Europe and Australia.
