Akari files for patent on ADC platform using spliceosome payload PH1

Akari Therapeutics (AKTX) has filed a provisional patent application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office covering the Company’s antibody drug conjugate platform using Akari’s spliceosome payload PH1 for treating cancer by modulating alternative splicing within cancer cells. This patent application represents a new patent family to further extend Akari’s proprietary position with respect to the Company’s novel payload, PH1. The new application relates to how Akari’s novel PH1 payload demonstrates its ability to modulate the spliceosome to disrupt alternative splicing drivers and the subsequent synthesis of proteins needed for cancer tumors to survive and grow. Alternative splicing leads to the production of functionally distinct protein isoforms. Cancer cells hijack this process to produce isoforms that support the “hallmarks of cancer,” a set of capabilities that often tumors acquire, which contribute to the growth, proliferation, and survival of the cancer in the tumor microenvironment, and a host of other deleterious effects. Changes in AS have been linked to almost all aspects of tumor formation and cancer growth and metastasis, including changes affecting cancer cell metabolism, inhibiting apoptosis, cell cycle control, evading the immune system, invasion of cancer cells to other tissues/organs, and resistance of cancer cells to current therapies. Disrupting AS is a central, generalized approach to target all cancers at a fundamental level of their survival and growth, including those difficult cancers driven by specific spliced variants or cancers driven by other known factors. This opens up the possibilities and potential for Akari to become a leader in developing therapies against a wide range of cancers utilizing spliceosome modulation using Akari’s ADC platform.