ROCKVILLE, MARYLAND - Rexahn Pharmaceuticals Inc., a leader in innovative therapeutics for life-threatening and life-debilitating diseases, announced that the US Patent and Trademark Office has issued a new cancer patent (US Patent 7,405,214) entitled, "Nucleoside Derivatives and Therapeutic Use Thereof," in support of the Company's continued efforts to develop superior cancer treatments.

According to a press release by Rexahn, this is the fourth patent in oncology and strengthens the anticancer pipeline of the Company. Earlier patents covering oncology target protein kinase Akt, transcription factor Hif-1 and oncogene product c-fos, respectively.

"We are excited about what this additional patent means for the future of Rexahn. The team has worked diligently to develop a strong product pipeline that will position Rexahn at the forefront of today's anticancerdrug industry,” Rexahn Pharmaceuticals CEO Chang Ahn commented.

“With our leading cancer drug, Archexin currently in Phase II trials and seven additional anticancer drug candidates in various stages of research and trials, including our proprietary nanomedicines, we anticipate tremendous success in the cancer market in the years ahead," he added.

The new patent covers Rexahn's cancer compound, RX-3117, a novel nucleoside chemotherapy agent, which is classified as an antimetabolite.

In preclinical studies, RX-3117 demonstrated potent inhibition of cell proliferation of many solid tumor types, of drug-resistant cancer cells and of tumor growth in xenografted models. RX-3117 may be effectively used for treating major solid tumors, in particular, the drug-resistant tumors.

Source: ag-IP-news