Singapore: Brisbane-based drug discovery and development company Alchemia has been granted a key US patent critical to its platform oncology technology.

The patent is being regarded as a critical development milestone for the company and provides US protection to the company's proprietary drug, HA-Irinotecan, in the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer. This drug is currently being evaluated on more than 400 patients in a pivotal phase III clinical trial at 76 sites. The trials are being held globally.

The patent, titled Hyaluronan-Chemotherapeutic agent formulations for the treatment of colon cancer, also protects Alchemia's HyACT drug delivery platform as applied to a range of other anti-cancer drugs that can be used in the treatment of drug-resistant colorectal cancer.

Dr Mike West, vice president, Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer, Alchemia, said the patent demonstrated the broad clinical and commercial capability of the HyACT platform. "This patent fits neatly in a suite of granted patents in other jurisdictions, including Australia, Canada, China, Japan, Taiwan and Europe, and will greatly enhance Alchemia's efforts in commercializing HA-Irinotecan," he said.