Acquist Announces Issuance of Two U.S. Patents Covering its Drug Library of Novel Small Molecules
WESTFIELD, N.J., Jan. 17, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Acquist Therapeutics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company committed to bettering the lives of people with inflammatory diseases, today announced that the U.S. Patent Office has issued two new patents covering the Acquist investigational drug library. These patents cover compounds intended for treatment of patients with NASH (nonalcoholic steatohepatitis), gout, and other illnesses.
U.S. Patent numbers 10,093,631 and 10,093,658 have also been filed worldwide. They provide U.S. exclusivity on compositions and uses through 2035 and 2036, respectively.
Acquist has developed novel, potent bifunctional inhibitors that regulate both production and excretion of uric acid - a target causally linked to several inflammatory diseases. Uric acid is a well-established primary disease initiator in gout and a direct activator of inflammasomes. In NASH, elevated uric acid is epidemiologically and experimentally associated with development of fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and inflammation. In human liver cells, Acquist's clinical lead (ACQT1127) has sharply reduced uric acid and triglycerides, and has renormalized aberrant activity of enzymes targeted by monofunctional drugs currently sponsored in NASH clinical trials by other companies. Acquist plans to treat patients with gout, as well as patients with NASH that have elevated serum uric acid (approximately 30% of patients). Targeting this biomarker-defined population in NASH is a core strategy of the Company.
About NASH and Gout
Acquist targets diseases that share a common characteristic: excessive levels of serum uric acid, which can induce inflammation that leads to progressive illness, deformity, debilitation, and organ failure. In gout, the Company is developing a potentially transformational therapy for an illness that afflicts at least 16 million patients in the U.S./EU and is epidemic in East Asia. Gout patients have excess uric acid that leads to exquisitely painful arthritis, kidney failure, and probably accelerated cardiovascular disease. Fewer than 25% of gout patients respond to standard 1(st)-line treatment.
In NASH, uric acid promotes accumulation of liver fat, which can trigger inflammation that leads to progressive fibrosis and liver failure. No drugs have been approved for NASH.
About Acquist
Acquist is focused on improving health for patients with inflammatory and metabolic diseases. Simultaneously targeting enzymes that regulate both production and excretion of uric acid, Acquist compounds are markedly more potent than standard monofunctional drugs. Our prototype drug has demonstrated exceptional clinical activity. In NASH and gout, effective treatment could relieve both morbidity and mortality from these progressive illnesses. Further information can be accessed at www.acquistrx.com.
Contacts:
Brian M. Pinkston
Tiberend Strategic Advisors
bpinkston@tiberend.com
(212) 375-6298
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SOURCE Acquist Therapeutics, Inc.
