PALO ALTO, Calif., Sept. 30, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 180 Life Sciences Corp. (NASDAQ: ATNF) (“180 Life Sciences” or the “Company”), a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the development of novel drugs that fulfill unmet needs in inflammatory diseases, fibrosis and pain, today announced that it has received a Notice of Allowance, from the United States (US) Patent and Trade Office, for application 16/661,769 “Method for Reducing Post-Operative Cognitive Dysfunction (POCD)”
Every year 300,000 elderly people suffer a hip fracture in the US with an estimated similar numbers across Europe and 1.3 million worldwide. About 25% of these patients develop a major complication, delirium; they become confused and lose awareness of themselves and their surroundings. This is very serious - patients with delirium have a two-fold greater risk of dying and are four times more likely to require admission to a care home, and a significant number suffer long-term loss of cognitive function or Post-operative delirium or Post-Operative Cognitive Dysfunction (POCD).
Currently, there is no approved therapeutic for preventing the development of delirium/POCD. Prof. Marc Feldmann and Prof. Jagdeep Nanchahal, co-founders of 180 Life Sciences, and their colleagues found in a preclinical model that inflammatory mediators released at the time of surgery to fix a broken bone was associated with memory loss in animals. Administration of anti-TNF before surgery resulted in improved outcomes.
180 Life Sciences has exclusively licensed intellectual property on this important discovery and the patents have now issued in the US and UK/EU, with initial coverage to 2031. The scientific findings suggest that administration of an anti-TNF antibody before surgery to block the effect of the inflammatory mediators may reduce, or prevent, the development of delirium in this important and large group of elderly patients. These critical findings form the basis for a randomized controlled clinical trial being planned by 180 Life Sciences and the team at the University of Oxford for elderly patients who are undergoing hip fracture surgery in the UK.
180 Life Sciences is an applicant and licensee of a broad and growing patent portfolio for three major drug platforms in the areas of inflammation, fibrosis and pain. The patent portfolio covers 16 patent families with 42 patents issued and 32 pending in several important jurisdictions, including the United States, Canada, UK/Europe, Australia, Japan and China.
The Company’s patent portfolio consists of three main sets of IP, which correspond to the respective program.
| Anti-TNF Platform | |
| Patent families: | 11 |
| Number of patents: | 36 |
| Number of patent applications: | 25 |
| Lifespan: | Between February 2031 and February 2036 |
| SCA Platform | |
| Patent families: | 3 |
| Number of patents: | 4 |
| Number of patent applications: | 2 |
| Lifespan: | April 2035* |
* Expiry of EU patent to be granted to be shown on grant date
| α7nAChR | |
| Patent families: | 3 |
| Number of patents: | 2 |
| Number of patent applications: | 3 |
| Lifespan: | 2028 |
The Company’s patent portfolio is made up of both its own IP and exclusive worldwide licenses, with, Oxford University Innovation Limited, The Kennedy Trust for Rheumatology Research, University of Oxford, Stanford University, and the Hebrew University.
“The issuance of these additional patent assets further strengthens the IP portfolio governing and protecting our programs,” said Dr. James Woody, CEO of 180 Life Sciences, who continued, “We are committed to broadening our global patent estate as we continue to expand our internal pipeline and increase patient access to innovative therapies.”
About 180 Life Sciences Corp.
180 Life Sciences Corp. is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the development of novel drugs that fulfill unmet needs in inflammatory diseases, fibrosis and pain by leveraging the combined expertise of luminaries in therapeutics from Oxford University, the Hebrew University and Stanford University. 180 Life Sciences is leading the research into solving one of the world’s biggest drivers of disease – inflammation. The Company is driving groundbreaking studies into clinical programs, which are seeking to develop novel drugs addressing separate areas of inflammation for which there are no effective therapies. The Company’s primary platform is a novel program to treat fibrosis using anti-TNF (tumor necrosis factor).
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release includes "forward-looking statements", including information about management’s view of the Company’s future expectations, plans and prospects, within the safe harbor provisions under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (the “Act”). Words such as “expect,” “estimate,” “project,” “budget,” “forecast,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “plan,” “may,” “will,” “could,” “should,” “believes,” “predicts,” “potential,” “continue” and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially from the expected results and, consequently, you should not rely on these forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. These forward-looking statements and factors that may cause such differences include, without limitation, statements relating to expectations regarding the capitalization, resources, and funding of the Company; expectations with respect to future performance, growth and anticipated acquisitions; the continued listing of the Company on The NASDAQ Stock Market; the ability of the Company to execute its plans to develop and market new drug products and the timing and costs of these development programs; estimates of the size of the markets for its potential drug products; potential litigation involving the Company or the validity or enforceability of the intellectual property of the Company; global economic conditions; geopolitical events and regulatory changes; the expectations, development plans and anticipated timelines for the Company's drug candidates, pipeline and programs, including collaborations with third parties; access to additional financing, and the potential lack of such financing; and the Company’s ability to raise funding in the future and the terms of such funding. These risk factors and others are included from time to time in documents the Company files with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including, but not limited to, its Form 10-Ks, Form 10-Qs and Form 8-Ks, as well as in the definitive proxy statement/prospectus that the Company filed in connection with the recent merger. These reports and filings are available at www.sec.gov. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements concerning the Company or other matters and attributable to the Company or any person acting on its behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements above. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance upon any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made, including the forward-looking statements included in this press release, which are made only as of the date hereof. The Company cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. Accordingly, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. The Company does not undertake or accept any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statement to reflect any change in its expectations or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based, except as otherwise provided by law.
Investors:
Jason Assad
Director of IR
180 Life Sciences Corp
(678) 570-6791
Jason@180lifesciences.com
Media Relations:
Russo Partners
David Schull
David.Schull@russopartnersllc.com
(212) 845-4271
