EXCLUSIVE: Ocean Biomedical's Co-Founder Jack Elias To Receive US Patent For Lung Fibrosis Therapeutics

Ocean Biomedical Inc's OCEA co-founder Jack Elias, received a Notice of Allowance from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for his U.S. patent application covering a therapeutic molecule for pulmonary fibrosis. 

What Happened: This patent allowance covers pulmonary fibrosis caused by multiple conditions, including idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), genetic pulmonary fibrosis such as Hermansky-Pudlak Syndrome (HPS), chemotherapy and radiation-induced pulmonary fibrosis, and exposure-induced interstitial lung diseases, including asbestosis and silicosis. 

Ocean Biomedical anticipates that the USPTO will issue a patent in the coming months.

Discoveries in recent years by Dr. Elias and his colleagues at Brown University have revealed a new target and a new pathway for treating pulmonary tissue damage in Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF). 

Why It Matters: IPF is a lung condition affecting about 100,000 people per year in the U.S. and about 15 per 100,000 people worldwide, with a much higher prevalence in males over 50 years. 

Ocean Biomedical's approach to treating pulmonary fibrosis is focused on inhibiting Chitinase 1 (Chit1) with patented "OCF-203." 

Chit1 is also a critical biomarker in Scleroderma-associated interstitial lung disease (SSc-ILD) and plays a role in bleomycin- and IL-13-induced pulmonary fibrosis. 

Ocean Biomedical's OCF-203 has shown an 85% – 90% reduction in collagen accumulation in four pulmonary fibrosis animal models.

Results also showed efficacy in the pale-ear mouse model of HPS, including reductions in fibrosis. 

Last week, co-founder, Jonathan Kurtis, received a Notice of Allowance from the USPTO for his U.S. patent application covering a therapeutic and prophylactic monoclonal antibody targeting malaria.

Earlier this week, Ocean Biomedical announced $134 million in financial backing.

Price Action: OCEA shares closed at $6.58 on Wednesday.