USPTO Issues Patent For GenSpera's Prostate Cancer Prodrug
By Cyndi Root
GenSpera announced in a press release that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has issued a patent for its prostate cancer prodrug. Patent number 8,822,406, “Tumor Activated Prodrugs,” covers the prodrug’s composition. The new patent joins the 12 others patents that GenSpera owns or licenses, of which 10 relate to prostate cancer. Craig Dionne, PhD, GenSpera CEO, said, “The issuance of this patent further strengthens our intellectual property position for targeted anti-cancer prodrugs and recognizes their unique applicability in treating prostate cancer.”
Patent number 8,822,406
Patent number 8,822,406 from the USPTO is for the composition of a prodrug activated by Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA), an enzyme secreted by prostate cancer cells, which delivers a thapsigargin (TG) derivative to prostate cancer cells. GenSpera’s thapsigargin is a plant-derived cytotoxin formulated in the prodrug delivery system that releases the agent precisely in the tumor, resulting in cell death, unlike chemotherapeutic agents whose cell death rate depends on the rate of cell division.
Prostate Cancer Market
Dionne states that the market for prostate cancer drugs is forecast to be $6.7 billion by the year 2020. In the U.S., over 230,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer each year and 30,000 men die of the disease. Current treatments chemically castrate the patient or otherwise have significant side effects. FDA-approved new generation treatments include Johnson & Johnson's hormone therapy Zytiga, Dendreon's vaccine Provenge, and Bayer’s radium isotope Xofigo. Up and coming are Inovio Pharmaceuticals’ vaccine INO-5150 and Seattle Genetics/Progenics Pharmaceuticals’ antibody drug conjugates (ADCs).
Decision Resources reports that the prostate cancer market will increase from $4.1 billion in 2011 to $9.1 billion in 2021. The forecast covers the U.S., France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, and Japan. The research and advisory firm for pharmaceutical and healthcare issues finds that Johnson & Johnson's Zytiga and Medivation/Astellas Pharma’s Xtandi will drive the market. Rachel Webster, analyst at Decision Resources, said, “We expect Xtandi to emerge as the patient share leader for chemotherapy-naive mCRPC and, beginning in 2016, it will become the top-selling agent in the prostate cancer market through 2021. We forecast Xtandi will garner sales of $2.2 billion by 2021.”