Lineage Cell Therapeutics Announces Issuance of U.S. Patent for Method of Treating Spinal Cord Injury
Lineage Cell Therapeutics (LCTX) articulated that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has issued U.S. Patent No. 10,286,009, with the following name “Pluripotent stem cell-derived oligodendrocyte progenitor cells for the treatment of spinal cord injury”. In fact, this patent includes methods for using pluripotent stem cell-derived oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs) for treating of spinal cord injury (SCI). Besides, the claimed techniques consist of injecting OPCs derived from a pluripotent human stem cell line into the SCI site. This patent will not expire before 2036.
In addition, Brian M. Culley, Chief Executive Officer of Lineage expressed their milestone: “The issuance of this patent is an important milestone for the Company because the allowed claims provide valuable, long term protection for novel treatments employing off-the-shelf OPC1 cells designed to improve recovery outcomes following severe spinal cord injury.” “We believe we have one of the largest cell therapy intellectual property portfolios in the biotech industry and will continue to grow and defend our position as a leader in this exciting space.”
Furthermore, OPC1 cells are created from the developmental lineage of pluripotent cell lines to produce a proprietary and consistent population of oligodendritic cells. Medical practitioners give the patient these cells in order to stimulate post-injury regeneration.
Patients can expect greater motor recovery compared to the current standard of care. The company has seen data from a 25-patient Phase I safety trial. Indeed, their focus for the OPC1 program is to deliver commercially-viable improvements to the manufacturing process and to implement a comparative study in 2020.