Coya Therapeutics enhances ‘patent estate’ for PD patent rights

Coya Therapeutics announced expansion of its patent estate for COYA 301, the Company’s low-dose IL-2 subcutaneous administration product candidate. Under the terms of the agreement with UNeMed, Coya has been granted the exclusive patent rights and know-how for use of ld IL-2 and ld IL-2 combinations for PD. UNeMed will receive payments upon achievement of certain milestones and will also be eligible to receive tiered low-single digit royalty on net sales. “We believe that Treg dysfunction is the common thread that binds together many neurodegenerative diseases. This license is based on strong preclinical animal data in PD, builds upon the highly promising clinical data observed in ALS and AD, and expands the optionality that Coya has in strategic partnering discussions to execute on future clinical trials in PD,” said Arun Swaminathan, Ph.D., Chief Business Officer. The preclinical model published by University of Nebraska Medical Center scientists demonstrated that treatment with ld IL-2 induced a treatment-specific Treg population with overexpression of immunosuppressive Treg cell markers. Furthermore, the treatment had a potent neuroprotective effect on nigral dopaminergic neurons in affected mice. The degeneration of nigral dopaminergic neurons is considered the hallmark of PD suggesting that this interventional strategy may lead to sustained suppressive immune responses and neuroprotection in PD. The paper is titled Interleukin-2 expands neuroprotective regulatory T cells in Parkinson’s disease and can be accessed here: “We are incredibility excited about this partnership,” UNeMed President and CEO Michael Dixon, Ph.D., said. “Coya is in a great position to develop this new therapy, and bring it to the market where it can have a significantly positive impact on healthcare.”