European Patent Office Issues Intention to Grant Notice for Patent Covering GeneQuine’s Product Candidate GQ-303

The European Patent Office issued an intention to grant notice for patent application no. 14 708 933.8 – 1120, covering GeneQuine’s lead gene therapy candidate GQ-303 for treatment of osteoarthritis.

The patent protects GeneQuine’s lead product candidate GQ-303 for humans and its veterinary analogs GQ-302 (dogs) and GQ-301 (horses) for treatment of osteoarthritis. GQ-303 and its analogs are helper-dependent adenoviral gene therapy vectors expressing proteoglycan 4 (PRG4) currently in preclinical development for treatment of osteoarthritis. After injection into affected joints, the vector enters joint cells and turns them into factories for production of the therapeutic protein PRG4. GQ-303 and it analogs have demonstrated symptomatic and disease-modifying efficacy in several rodent osteoarthritis models. Europe is the second largest market for osteoarthritis after USA. Securing intellectual protection represents a major milestone in this market. The US patent application for this technology is pending.

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